A Voyage to Panjikant
It’s usually a good sign when my main complaint about a comic is that it’s not long enough. This felt more like a preview to this series than the first comic of the series, but I’m not the boss of Marguerite and she can release these however she likes. This series is historical fiction based on the Sogdians of the 7th century and their travels along the Silk Road. This issue specifically deals with a merchant and three of his children (although we only see two of them). It is mostly told in the form of a flashback, as the father explains to his daughter why one of his sons is being punished with cleaning the stables when that is usually the job of the other son. It turns out that this son, despite studying Buddhism for over two months, was still unable to satisfy some Buddhist businessmen, which led to some real problems for his father. Marguerite was nice enough to include a little afterward in which she explains that there’s lots more to come and that these characters will be fleshed out more as she goes, which means that she has plans for this series. Which is a good thing, as I’m already intrigued to see more of this world and time period. This is also one of those cases where her having the ability to color the story (I’m assuming that it was her, as nobody else was credited) transforms it into something greater than your average mini comic. It still would have been an interesting story in black and white, but the colors turn it into a gorgeous work of art. Take a look at it, you won’t be sorry. Oh, and I don’t usually mention other art projects from the various comics artists I talk about, but Marguerite also makes and sells pillows based on Tang dynasty Chinese motifs, and they are ridiculously beautiful. Buy the comic, read it while reclining on one of her pillows! $5.50
