Review by Frank Plowright

A second Short Sword collection from Will Tempest is very welcome after the illustrative splendour of the first book. This provides another five stories, this time produced between 2023 and 2025.

This is an even stronger selection, although some might be disappointed that Tempest has reined in his illustrative inclinations prioritising the discipline of producing stories as comics. That illustrative skill is still evident, just now restricted to panels rather than pin-ups, and an extended gallery section offering designs shows just what a talented artist Tempest is.

Every story to a greater or lesser degree deals with privilege, and at seventy pages ‘The Rain it Crawls’ is a graphic novel in its own right, a beautifully structured character study of people under duress. Like the remainder of the content, the dressings may indicate fantasy or science fiction, but this is about observing people. It’s set on a world where vast creatures rise from the sea, float toward land, and at some point release acid rain. They move slowly enough that danger can generally be avoided, but here minor nobility and her squire must take shelter in an abandoned home for longer than anticipated. In delicately drawn and detailed panels we learn of their differences during subtle conversation and observation, while flashbacks in grey wash add to what’s being said. The crowning glory is when readers are led to believe death is a possibility and a two page wordless sequence shows a series of possible implements.

The opening story eventually becomes really creepy, and is the most overt use of a form of technology as an investigator attempts to nail down the details of a crime during an interrogation. The imagination sets the tone of what’s to come.

Subtlety really is a stock in trade, and in ‘The Excavation of Ankud’ it’s combined with a dry sense of humour. The first two-thirds is the increasingly frustrated diary of an archaeologist combined with illustrations of their team’s careful excavations and speculations as to what they’ve discovered. It’s completely undermined by the final third’s great wordless flashback sequence revealing the truth of the discoveries.

An equivalent structure applies to ‘Grub Street’, which combines newspaper articles speculating about the return of a ghost ship, conversations, and the eventual cover-up. Although set in a fictional past, it’s a very modern outlook to dealing with potential civil unrest.

Tempest’s art is as nuanced as the stories, with people delicately posed as character studies, and the illustrations accompanying blocks of text beautifully designed. These people may wear ornate clothing and so look very different, but we know what they’re feeling. Conversely, more in passing, Tempest also designs creatures with limbs, but lacking features as we know them. They’re complex and suitably alien.

‘The Perfectionist’ completes the stories, two pages that may or may not be self-commentary.

As with the first volume, the chances of your getting it via major online retailers are slim, so head to www.willtempest.com and see what else is on offer.