REVIEW of Age I- Age of Darkness + creator INTERVIEW
Updated: Oct 21, 2021
Angsty Brothers? An upcoming shonen/seinen-inspired manga series called,
Age 1- Age of Darkness is an Action, Fantasy Indie Manga Created by DoubleKey. I read all four chapters, so get ready to read my in-depth, review, with plenty of spoilers, and my interview with the creator for a behind-the-scenes experience.
Synopsis
In an age where darkness reigns supreme and still terrorizes humanity, lives a family of poor farmers, alongside their four children. After losing both their siblings in a terrible accident,
Frederick and Nigel's lives change forever. Three years after the occurrence, they meet a strange individual, a bounty hunter named Kay Hole, who claims to know where their siblings are. The two brothers thus embark on a journey to find their siblings and save them from the clutches of darkness.
review
PLOT
The pacing of the story has a lot of drama, angst, and violence. Unfortunately, due to the many tragedies that occurred throughout the first three chapters, it felt rushed between those events. Another example of the rushed pacing is that the three-year time skip isn't impactful when the characters still feel the same way. I would assume they just wanted to develop the relationship with their adopted father because I don't see any other reason to add a time skip. I respect what Double was doing, but in my opinion, I would slow the pacing down and focus on developing the world and atmosphere that the characters live in so I could feel how"dark" the times really are.
The world-building is being set in medieval times and it's made clear in the story with the building designs, fashion, kings, queens, horses, and other details. The biggest complaint I have is the logic to the fantasy components. It will be interesting to know more about the world the characters live in. There's a lot of questions I have about the supernatural elements in Age of Darkness. One question that I asked myself was, "are these unfortunate events only happening to the brothers, or is there some curse on humanity?"Another question I had was in chapter four, where the bounty hunter character started using magic, but the other characters in the story seem to sell it as if it was normal. I'm confused because we haven't seen a person use magic up until now. I think diving into the aspects earlier on in the story would benefit the world-building. Is this the norm in their society to be using powers like that? These are the things that I think readers need to be aware of. The other characters minor or major could help the world-building by setting the tone for how dark humanity has become. For instance, you could use wealth, abuse, politics, or something like that to convey your message.
The theme of age of darkness is about the loss of family members, childhood trauma, and the effects that come with it while at the same time still having hope in the world. That's a great theme to have, but as I mentioned earlier, it could be presented better if it's slowed down a little bit.
CHARACTERS
The only characters I will be reviewing are the two brothers, Nigel and Frederick. The rest of the cast doesn't have enough depth to them yet, so I have no comment.
They're motivated to find out what happend with their sister, and figure out what happened to the other brother, Drake, that was possessed by darkness, at the beginning of the story.
When it comes to the character growth in Age of Darkness, one of the brothers keeps having consistent nightmares. I think it should be emphasized throughout their day, side effects like insomnia may be one example of showing character growth.
The one thing that's different between the two brothers is the older brother mentally progresses more than a younger one and that it's only because of the dialogue differences. What I would do to make that more impactful is show the differences. Maybe, you can make the younger brother more optimistic and try to forget the whole thing, and the older brother is more depressed and doesn't want to forget about anything. One of them isn't able to look forward while the other one can never look back.
ART
The linework starts as sketchy, and loose but it gradually got better as I kept reading, and it's only going to get better.
There's plenty of detail in the artwork from the background to the special effects and blurry liens. The brothers Nigel and Frederick aren't well-defined enough for me to tell him apart. It isn't quite done professionally, but it's there, and I appreciate the effort. All I have to say is keep going, keep practicing, and keep researching.
Throughout the series, The tone has been there, it gradually gets better. It sets the mood for a darker series, definitely not lighthearted.
The lettering is ok but not professional-looking. Sometimes the text size is inconsistent and hard to read.
CONCLUSION
The art gradually gets better and starts looking more like a manga. The two things that I would fix about Age-1 Age of Darkness are the characters and story pacing.
I would have a more distinct look for the brothers and a more distinct personality.
I would also fix the pacing of the series.
Based on a synopsis of the story, I'd spend more time focusing on the events that happened with their family. Elongate that as much as possible would help add more depth to the characters. Then, I'd add in the next chapter the orphanage and trauma they went through with nightmares. I would take out the parts where they're being thrown into the dungeon inside that wicked orphanage, then being picked up and living in a castle. I'd suggest that by moving that later on down the series because I feel these events overshadow what happened with their brother Drake. I think the brothers should spend more time in an orphanage. To see them grow as children without their parents and how it affects them mentally is good pacing and character growth.
Thank you for allowing me to review your manga. I hope you continue to create stories and draw original characters; you have plenty of talent. If you have questions about your story, feel free to DM me on Instagram @maddindies or shoot me an email. I'm always available to help out indie comic creators!
INTERVIEW
How long have you been creating comic books?
I've been creating comic books ever since I was a child. I've always
loved the idea of creating a story of my own, with living and breathing
characters, a story that would inspire and make other people happy.
Back when I was a kid, I would occasionally get some of my unused elementary
school notebooks, and make comics about my old characters. My passion, in reality,
has always been animation, but since I did not know how to animate as a
child, I resorted to comics or writing novels, and it still made me happy. I've been making
comics since 2009, all the way to 2021, but it was only in 2020 that I
decided to start working seriously.
What inspirations did you have behind this project?
I have many important sources of inspiration when it comes to Age I-
Age of Darkness, most noticeably Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Hirohiko Araki's
creation. The art style, the characters, and some parts of the narration
have mostly been influenced by Jojo's. Even the main character itself, Frederick
Kingstone is meant to
be somewhat of a tribute to the first Jojo: Johnathan
Joestar. Other sources of inspiration for this series would certainly
have to be Berserk, with its dark fantasy elements and some plot points
that will come later in the story, and Attack on Titan, with its dark and tragic
atmosphere. My Hero Academia also influenced me in some of the later parts, especially when it comes to characters
and narrative. Let's say there are also various easter eggs for all the
shonen/seinen fans :D.
What are the main themes behind the series?
The main themes of Age I- Age of Darkness would have to be the concept of
sacrifice: you can't obtain anything without losing something else, the
concept of self-growth and development, the
concept of life and death, which are explored through some of the characters' struggles, and the burden of being a hero. What does being a 'hero' truly mean?
Is there really just straight-up good or bad in this world?
There's also another theme which would be that of 'an unfair world'.
The world can be a very unfair
place to live in, where the innocents
are the ones who perish.
What do you have to say about a certain character from your series?
I think the character I would love to talk about the most is Nigel.
He seems quite dumb, but do not underestimate him. Also, look out for Kay Hole,
the latest character introduced... something unexpected might come from
him too
How do you come up with the characters in your story?
They just happen to randomly pop in my mind when I least expect it. I
usually don't like to do brainstorming sessions: it always feels like
I'm forcing myself to get some ideas out. Instead, what I do is, try
to listen to some music and let inspiration come by itself. Other times, I
just come up with new characters while writing the script.
How long are you planning this series to run?
The series will be running for as long as I'm able to put out content
for it. I've been working on Age I- Age of Darkness for more than a year now,
and I've been writing the script since 2017. I've recently finished writing
the script and I came up with more than 100 chapters and roughly 29
arcs. The story as a whole is also divided into two
major sections. I frankly
don't know if I'll ever be able to finish working on the manga (I'm barely at volume 1!),
but I know for sure that the story I wanted to tell is currently over, so,
if I'm not lucky enough to make the manga as I wanted, I might as well consider
putting Age of Darkness out as a novel, in the future.
Any teasers you want to give your readers?
The real adventure has just begun! The story will be unfolding from chapter
to chapter as it goes on :D. Also, pay attention to detail... there might be
something interesting.
Anything else you want your readers to know?
Yes. First of all, I just wanted to thank all my subs and all the people who
follow me: you're truly important to me. I feel like I wouldn't be working
as hard, without your help and feedback. I hope I'll be able to inspire
you as the story progresses and make you feel better. A big hug to all of
you, stay safe <3.
Support The Creator
ABOUT ME
My name is Imani aka MaddMoniArt, I’m the creator of the psychological thriller manga Bleakville, and the founder of MaddIndies, a blog where I review and support independent webcomics. Go behind-the-scenes into the creative process of Art & Comics with me, as I draw stuff, review webcomics, interview other creators, share techniques, and try to create my own manga.
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