The Phoenix Requiem

Infobox comic strip
title = The Phoenix Requiem


caption = Cover of Volume One
author = Sarah Ellerton
url = http://requiem.seraph-inn.com
rss = http://requiem.seraph-inn.com/updates.rss
status = Updates every Monday and Thursday
began = September 27 2007
ended =
genre = Drama, Fantasy
ratings =

"The Phoenix Requiem" is a fantasy graphic novel written and drawn by Sarah Ellerton, author and artist of "Inverloch", which takes place in a setting similar to Victorian-era England. It is currently only available as a webcomic. The comic's first pages were published on September 27, 2007. "The Phoenix Requiem" is in progress and currently updating with new pages on Mondays and Thursdays. Updates usually consist of 2-3 new pages [cite web | last=Sarah | first=Ellerton | work=The Phoenix Requiem | url=http://requiem.seraph-inn.com/about.html | title=The Phoenix Requiem - About | accessdate=2008-03-06] . As of September 2008, it encompasses 8 chapters and over 200 pages.

Plot

The webcomic has been described as "the story of one man trying to forget the ghosts of his past against a backdrop of a Victorian-era world, where magic, long lost to the people, may be returning." [cite web | url=http://tomgeeks.com/founders.html | title=Tomgeeks - Founding Members | accessdate=2008-03-06] In ancient times, god sent spirits to give divine powers to man, and man worshiped the spirits; however, god's children were jealous, and sealed the spirits away, trapping themselves as well. The world was left with no means of communing with god and the celestial magic was lost.

The story begins with Jonas Faulkner stumbling through the forest near the town of Esk, until he collapses into the snow.

Jonas, unconscious, is found by Cora-Lee and Sean, two young children residing in Esk. The children, who strayed away from the All Soul's Eve celebration (where spirits are worshiped), get help, including Anya Katsukova, a nurse and one of the main protagonists of the story. Anya herself had left the celebration because she did no believe in the deities the rest of the townsfolk.

Jonas is taken to the supposed local hospital. With the absence of Doctor Blythe, the duty falls to Anya to remove several bullets from Jonas, despite not being fully qualified.

Post-dawn, Anya, asleep, is startled by Robyn Hart, whom she brushes off. Robyn, dejected and a bit angry, practices sword fighting in a nearby barn; as he attacks a beam, his wooden target emits black, smoking blood. He is then distracted by a practice fight with Petria Grey, which he loses, though when she encourages him to continue, he refuses, still disconcerted by the strange blood and the noises he continually hears in the barn. He and Petria head to a pub to see if anyone knows who Jonas is.

A week passes. Jonas is still unconscious. Anya treats a Mr. Jerral McArthur, delivered by Father Davith, who says that he had simply "stumbled into church and collapsed". Jerral has mysterious blisters and incoherently talks about magic. Anya informs Davith that Jerral is delusional and that he only needs medicine and care.

However, Mrs. McArthur arrives and insists upon seeing her husband, though Anya warns her that it's not a good idea. Mrs. McArthur's obvious revulsion at Jerral's leprosy-like condition is overcome by her concern for him, and as Anya leaves to go to the apothecary, she stays with him. Anya runs into Petria on the way. As Petria jokes about Tobias'( the apothecary's) military war tales, Mrs. McArthur appears, running to Anya and informing her that Jerral McArthur is dead.

While Petria stays with Mrs. McArthur, Anya runs back to the hospital to find that Jerral is indeed dead. However, the scene she arrives on is grotesque - the flesh appears to have been half-decomposed, so that his skull is exposed and some bones show in his hands. As she whispers to herself that it's not natural, Jonas speaks from behind her.

Though they somehow manage to knock each other over, as well as catch each other, and despite the corpse lying not six feet away, Jonas is rather lighthearted, but finally turns serious as he suggests that they burn Jerral's remains.

Anya goes to find someone to help move the body, and the scene cuts to the funeral. Jerral has just been burned and the people are exiting the church; Anya remains inside and sees Jonas sitting alone in a pew. She sits down to talk to him, in spite of her differing beliefs. Jonas, who seems to believe in spirits, still agrees, somewhat mysteriously, that they seem to complicate things.

Petria and Robyn soon arrive rather ungracefully, Petria being very friendly to Jonas in contrast to Robyn, who is acting polite yet cold and hints that Jonas should leave soon. Petria arranges lodgings for Jonas with Professor Moretty, saying that she can probably talk him around, but Anya objects to the prospect of Jonas doing manual labor during his recovery. She begins to leave, but Jonas follows her, offering to walk with her. Looking a bit awkward at this taking place in Robyn's presence, Anya agrees, and they leave the church.

On their way to Anya's home the two encounter a rather enthusiastic Coralee carrying an Acheron doll (a direct reference to the Acheron of "Inverloch").

Arriving at Anya's house, Anya, albeit reluctantly, invites Jonas in for tea.

Later that night Jonas is intercepted by Robyn, while walking to his lodgings at Professor Moretty's. Robyn seems rather resentful about Jonas' demeanor towards Anya and acts rather belligerent. While Jonas is trying to calm him down, Robyn hears strange noises and then spots a strange apparition at Jonas' feet. Robyn aims at the ghostly form with his pistol. Thinking he is the target, Jonas at first acts alarmed, but when Robyn wants to point out what his real target is, the shade seems to have disappeared. Robyn then explains to Jonas about other instances when he saw these strange sightings.

Jonas says that Robyn, having been in a war and seen much death, is lucky not to have gone mad, because "so very many" did (he says this with a strange smirk). But when Robyn inquires as to whether or not Jonas has seen ghosts as well, Jonas simply smiles and walks away.

Petria shows Jonas to Dr. Moretty's house. After learning that Anya cooked for the two of them, she is rather short with him and doesn't bother to explain that Anya is always rather quiet, probably jealous of either his attention to Anya or Anya's attention to him (she probably wants Robyn to get lucky). Jonas turns rather glum, and Petria becomes concerned, offering to get Anya, but Jonas bids her good night and Petria leaves as Jonas covers his face with his hand.

Jonas complains of a headache and wonders if he should tell Anya. Then he flashes back to his wedding (where characters from Ellerton's previous comic can be seen from behind), and recalls the wedding vow, before flashing back to the present, where he is now sitting in the church holding the wedding ring, apparently frustrated.

The next day, Anya is finishing up a check with another patient when Jonas appears, reminding her that he had an appointment. She removes his stitches very awkwardly, after which Jonas attempts small talk about her home country, Mishara. Following his request, she tells him "ty krasivy", but refuses to tell him the meaning (it is "you're pretty" in Russian). A bit of playful banter follows, which Anya actually cuts short by reminding him he's married - and he explains that his wife is dead.

Though she is mortified, Jonas brushes it off and changes the subject; Anya asks him how he was shot, to which he simply says he upset the wrong people, and offers to tell her about his time in the Hyde Asylum. Anya is alarmed, and seems to decide he's joking, resolved by his offer to tell her a different story about how he met a giant three-headed rabbit.

Anya becomes serious again and offers patient confidentiality, saying that if he wants to talk about who shot him and why, he can. After asking if he can trust her, he has second thoughts and decides to leave rather than relate the story. As he is exiting, Doctor Blythe arrives and notices Jonas; they trade remarks, Jonas rather underhandedly, before Jonas leaves the office.

After a time skip, it appears to be mid-spring. Petria, with Robyn not far behind, knocks on Jonas's door and reminds him that he's said he'll go hunting with them. As Jonas goes to get his coat, Petria and Robyn banter until he reemerges, at which point he bets against Robyn that he can get Anya to come with them.

Jonas leans into a window in the office, watching Anya sing to herself, before interrupting and making his offer that she come with them. Predictably, she refuses halfheartedly, and he climbs through the window to "valiantly rescue a damsel in distress". She persuades him to put her down so that she can change her dress, looking very proximity-conscious as she tells him this.

As the four ride on a trail, looking for something to hunt, Jonas's horse suddenly spooks and rears. Robyn blames it on supernatural sensitivity. Petria sees a pigeon and Jonas gives Anya the first shot, helping her hold and fire the gun; the shot is answered by a loud and unearthly screech. Jonas, with his hand to his temples again, assures them that it was probably just an animal, and goes to retrieve the pigeon, which Anya apparently shot. Reaching for it, his eyes dim and he collapses.

A horse and carriage containing Patrick Armand arrives on the road, and Armand gives the three a photo of Jonas, asking if any of them have seen him. Anya says that he is back in good health, but before she can say he is in town, Robyn elbows her and says they haven't seen him in a while. Armand leaves, and Robyn explains to Anya that he thinks they might not be investigating the men who shot Jonas.

Anya then notices Jonas lying in the grass and runs over to wake him up. Anya describes Patrick Armand to him, and Jonas identifies the officer from memory. Robyn suddenly loses control and demands to know what Jonas might have done to have Armand after him; Anya makes Robyn let Jonas go, upon which Robyn tells her that he wants to be sure he's not going mad. Robyn walks a few feet away, and Petria explains that Robyn's best friend in the army went crazy and committed suicide.

Anya returns to Jonas to find him unresponsive. When she approaches him, he suddenly lunges forward, telling her "they're coming". Meanwhile, Petria and Robyn lose control of the animals, who bolt; Petria sees a face in the mist. When the four reunite in a clearing, a spirit, gold and translucent, appears.

Jonas kneels, reciting a rhyming prayer; Robyn and Petria follow his example and kneel with their hands over their hearts. Jonas explains the spirits and hellions, and assures Anya, who has a different religion, that they are all real. The spirit reaches out a hand for help and touches Jonas, who reels back in an explosion of light.

Returning to Esk, the four meet Patrick Armand once again, who reveals that Jonas apparently asked someone to shoot him, but didn't expect them to go through with it. Anya tells Armand that there is a sickness they've never seen before, which is spreading rapidly; Armand says that the disease is in other towns, and only began spreading when "they" let Jonas "out". A popular assumption is that Jonas was released from an asylum, with records wiped and the staff frightened to talk about him. Armand threatens to "send Jonas back", and Jonas becomes wildly defensive, saying that his only mistake was to "wed the wrong woman", saying that Armand has no idea what it was like there.

When Armand says Jonas is not under arrest, Jonas leaves hurriedly.

Major characters

*Anya KatsukovaAnya Katsukova, stated to be under 20, is a nurse training to be a doctor. She is skeptical about the deities of Misharan.A mysterious police officer who recently appeared looking for Jonas. He believes that Jonas is the cause of the Plague being spread.

*Jonas FaulknerJonas Faulkner arrived in Esk after being shot almost fatally for reasons unknown. He seems charming, friendly, and happy-go-lucky. It has been revealed that he has a connection to otherworldly spirits, and is suspected by many characters (most notably Armand) of being somehow responsible for the plague that is occurring at the time of the story.

*Robyn HartRobyn is a former soldier who works as a herder of caribou at the time of the story. He is romantically interested in Anya, who appears not to reciprocate those feelings. He claims that he has for several months been able to see ghosts and other abnormal things, especially when he is near Jonas, for which reason he appears to be deeply distrustful of that character. He is close friends with, and protective of, Petria Grey.

*Petria GreyPetria was abandoned at a young age by her parents, and has survived by doing odd jobs around town; it is suggested in the story that Robyn Hart has taken care of her in the past.

*Patrick ArmandA police officer who came to Esk looking for Jonas. He believes that Jonas responsible for the plague that is spreading. He appears to be knowledgeable about Jonas' past.

Reception

"The Phoenix Requiem" was nominated for 11 awards at the 2008 Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards, including Outstanding Comic. Top Web Comics has put Phoenix Requiem as the most popular webcomic on their site as of September 2008. [cite web|title=TopWebComics Monthly Most Popular Comics|publisher=|url=http://topwebcomics.com/] Like its predecessor "Inverloch", "The Phoenix Requiem" has received praise for its artwork. On the other hand, at least one reviewer has criticized the slow pacing of the first volume of the comic.cite web|author=Larry Cruz|title=The Phoenix Requiem, reviewed by Larry "El Santo" Cruz|publisher=Comixtalk Magazine|date=April 2008|url= http://comixtalk.com/the_phoenix_requiem_reviewed_larry_el_santo_cruz | accessdate=2008-09-29 | quote=There's a lot of fat. The story could easily be trimmed down to half the length. If Requiem were a novel, the editor would be marking up whole paragraphs in red and scribbling down 'unnecessary' over and over until his pen ran out of ink]

As the comic has only been in production for approximately one year, it has yet to be widely reviewed in mainstream media.

References

External links

* [http://requiem.seraph-inn.com/ Official site]
* [http://comicsand.blogspot.com/2008/07/sarah-ellerton-on-phoenix-requiem.html Sarah Ellerton interview at Comicsand.blogspot.com]