Review: ‘Isola’ #10 Offers One Shocking Revelation After Another Setting Up The Next Arc Wonderfully

When last we caught up with Captain Rook and her ward and lover, the Queen of Maar herself, it looked like we could be heading for something of a happy reunion as we witnessed the latter seemingly freed from her tiger form and ready to catch up on post time with her partner. Or, so we were lead to believe.
Fast forward two months and to Isola #10, out now from Image Comics, and we are greeted with a post-coital happy-ever-after reunion straight out of a fairy tale. (well, minus the consensual sex, of course). But, it isn’t. Brenden Fletcher pulls a brilliant bait and switch on the reader that did, I’ll admit, leave me somewhat reeling when, suddenly, the one and true Queen Olwyn shatters a somewhat tense moment as she crashes through the foliage of the forest and attacks who I assumed was Olwyn. As someone once famously said, “It’s a trap!” Well played, Mr Fletcher, well played.

It’s not the only startling revelation either. And, as these two revelations come swiftly one after the other, it’s a real head-spinner for the reader. And, these starling events aren’t even the most dramatic events of this sensational conclusion to the second chapter of the ongoing fantasy saga that is Isola.
After a more mellow and slower second story arc this final issue ahead of a break in the series, throws a lot into the mix and just when you think writer Brenden Fletcher is about to set up a very interesting new status quo for the people of Maar, he throws us yet another curve ball and sets a far more menacing tone for the book moving forward that is guaranteed to have you wanting more, if you’ve been a long-time reader and fan like me. Many of the characters we have met along the way in this second chapter  certainly come back with a vengeance in this issue. Summer 2020 cannot come soon enough for me.

What is of interest, on the art front  is a subtle change in the artwork. Compared to previous issues, Karl Kerschl issues to be employing bolder outlines to his figures giving them more solidity and bringing them more to the fore and losing some of that more animation-like art and colors, courtesy of Msassyk. And, it really works, giving a more defined and bold look to the fantasy world of Maar. A world that Mssassyk helps the reader realise with her deft and dazzling use of colors. When I watch the dawn sun rising in the distance, it really seems to glow from the page. And in using tomes of blacks, greys and whites, we are instantly ware of the flashback that offers Olwyn a truth about her parents she will have to wrestle with for some time to come.
In seeking paradise, all Rook and Olwyn have done is journey through a living Hell instead. All in all, a conclusion that expertly sets up the promise of an even more dramatic third chapter and a thirst, on the reader’s part, for more.
Isola #10 is available now from Image Comics.
For all our coverage of Isola so far, why not click on here to catch up.