There is nothing like the disquiet those who are grieving have to deal with shortly after a death. The gritty details of who the person was eventually come out. Some of which is very nice and some is not so nice. Those details rarely make a difference as to what residual imprints they make on the people closest to them. You don’t really understand the gap those individuals leave until you really need them and it all comes to realization, that they are no longer with you.

It is always interesting to see how these people you know your whole life, have been affected by people differently from you. I remember when I lost my mother, the outpouring of love from people I never knew, made me know how many lives she touched.  The time we have on this earth is fleeting and the time we have with loved ones even shorter. The older you get the sooner you realize that though the days are long, the years are short. In the third chapter of the excellent White Ash, tragedy has struck the town, leaving everyone in shock and not knowing how to move forward.

We are taken back in time to 1918, a lifetime ago, an in the midst of a slaughter, where we find out how Lillian’s mother died in the first place and exactly why her father’s overprotection came to be. Aleck wakes up after Lillian’s father stabbed him, as her father looks to recompense for his grave mistake, by giving Aleck, the serum his father needs to survive. As his conversation with his father becomes the last, he ever will have, one that not only affects Aleck but the community of dwarves. By issue’s end, Aleck leaves White Ash, but it seems that trouble is headed for the town.

Overall, it’s an excellent issue that gives readers what all of us love about the book as it is mysterious, action packed, and well developed. The story by Charlie Stickney is smart and fun. The art by Conor Hughes and Fin Cramb is beautiful. Altogether, an excellent chapter that though it ends in tragedy, shows that this creative team knows how to write a story that is as complex as its characters.

Story: Charlie Stickney Art: Conor Hughes and Fin Cramb
Story: 9.6 Art: 9.5 Overall: 9.7 Recommendation: Buy 

In our current political climate, it is hard to believe anyone could keep secrets. Can you keep a secret, when you can find fame and fortune, by revealing a secret of someone else’s? Can you keep a secret if it is a matter of life and death? These are the questions one must consider when one undertakes the holding of a secrets or secrets, as your ability to, can speak to your very integrity.

This becomes even more integral your life, if you whole world is encapsulated by secrets. This is the world of the military, the government and just about every organization in the world, and where terms like need to know and burn boxes are commonplace. This is also what small towns are built on, as lives are tethered to these truths that no outsider would or should ever know. In the second chapter of White Ash, the reader discovers even more of this town seething with deceptions, races and war.

We catch up with Aleck, as he struggles with newly found identity of being a Dwarf, and what it means as far as his place in the town. His father, on his death bed, leaves him a tape, unlocking years of secrets, changing his world forever, as he as to deal with the fact that there are dwarves and elves. This is when Lillian, who is way more adept at what is going on, fills him in on the history between the two races and their customs .  By book’s end, the two are closer, but a hot-headed reaction leaves the fate of one uncertain.

Overall, an outstanding installment that does not disappoint, grips you from page to page. The story by Charlie Stickney is evenly paced, fascinating and leaves you wanting more. The art is breath taking, vivid and unique. Altogether, one of the best indie books of last year got even better with this chapter.

Story: Charlie Stickney Art: Conor Hughes and Fin Cramb
Story: 10 Art: 10 Overall: 10 Recommendation: Buy

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