Helen Of Wyndhorn #5 Review

 

Writer: Tom King

Artist: Bilquis Evely

Colorist: Matheus Lopes

Letterer: Clayton Cowles

Cover Artists: Bilquis Evely and Matheus Lopes; Gabriel Hernández Walta

Publisher: Mike Richardson

Editors: Daniel Chabon, Chuck Howitt-Lease & Misha Gehr

Designer: Hannah Noble

Digital Art Technician: Adam Pruett

Publisher: Dark Horse

Price: $4.99

Release Date: September 25, 2024

 

Barnabas refuses to take Helen back to the Other Land. Her grandfather declares her a failure as a soldier. Barnabas charges Lilith to redouble her efforts to prepare Helen for society. Why does Barnabas want Helen off his estate, married, and out of his life forever? Let’s grab our battle axes, leap into Helen Of Wyndhorn #5, and see!

 

Story

After her recovery, Helen drowns her horrors in alcohol and sleeps with Lilith each evening. Her thoughts return to before she began adventuring with her grandfather. Lilith shudders when Helen reveals her longing for her father. As Helen grew up, C.K. Cole was Helen’s world. Yet the author abandoned Helen when he hung himself.

 

In Helen Of Wyndhorn #5, Helen tries to return to the Other Land. Her grandfather refuses to take her, avoids her, and refuses access to his armory. Helen remembers that C.K. Cole drank so much because he was frightened. As Lilith holds her pupil in her arms, Helen admits that the same fears that assailed her father again trouble her.

 

When Tom King alludes to one of pulp-era author Robert E Howard's stories, a comparison between C.K. Cole's character of Othan becomes unavoidable. But while Helen's father based his fictional hero upon Barnabas, Conan The Barbarian eventually matured and never blamed others for his failures. The Cimmerian accepted responsibility for a family and a nation. Unlike Howard’s hero, Barnabas pushes everyone away. Every time Barnabas returns home, he cannot wait to return to the Other Land. There, Barnabas doesn't face the necessity of building or sustaining anything. Barnabas can go on quests, kill as many people, gods, and monsters as he pleases, and return home when he grows bored.

 

Helen Of Wyndhorn #5 provides intriguing commentary on a collector’s relationship with his collection. Perhaps he also hints at the meaning underlying the name of Helen's governess. But Lilith Appleton would shrug off such paltry concerns. All that matters to her is her charge. Helen is an unfinished jigsaw, and Lilith won't rest until she finds the missing piece and completes the puzzle. Not because Lilith wants to behold a pretty picture but because she wishes to make Helen whole.

 

 

Art

The indomitable Othan battles Sarra as lightning flashes through the sky. Bilquis Evely portrays a woman standing amid boxes and a collection rivaling that of Thomas Rogers. Helen beats her fists upon the armory doors and glares at an unperturbed Joseph. That evening, Lilith combs Helen's hair with her fingers, and her pupil falls asleep on her lap. The next day, Lilith runs through tall grasses to catch Helen at the edge of the woods. The shadows behind the tangled branches evoke Mirkwood, while the rays of sunlight streaking down suggest the boundary between our world and Faerie.

 

Matheus Lopes brightens the framing story in Helen Of Wyndhorn #5 with purple, magenta, and orange, while brown, tan, and beige surround subdued red and green clothing. Ivory frames daylight scenes inside the manor, while black borders invade night scenes featuring brown, beige, and green. Yellow, blue, and vibrant green reveal the beauty of the Wyndhorn estate, while black returns during an encounter with the toothy crone. Yet black fails to rule the night as Helen stands beneath a starry turquoise sky, gazing at traces of pink near the leafy green trees.

 

Large uppercase black letters inhabit white and ivory dialogue balloons, while the toothy crone casts ivory letters into green balloons. Lilith's narration is a lowercase black script on pink parchment. Words grow bold for emphasis, swell for volume, and shrink for lowered voices, while Clayton Cowles enhances a tragic battle and a scene of unthinking cruelty with sound effects. Thanks to Dark Horse Comics for providing a copy for review.

 

 

 

Final Thoughts

Joseph is Barnabas’ butler. Joseph also cleans the manor house, prepares meals, trains warriors, and administers Otherworldly remedies. But when Helen reverts to her self-destructive ways, Joseph fails to intervene. So, a new hero arises to protect Helen in Helen Of Wyndhorn #5. Or perhaps she has been the hero of Tom King’s story all along.

 

Rating 9.4/10

 

To preview interior art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.