Advance Review: Ionheart
From Top Shelf Publishing
A new adventure from Top Shelf Publishing, Ionheart mixes science fiction and fantasy with a sprinkling of crime and a thriller, too.
Pursued by a terrifying demon, a young knight flees across the radioactive ruins of a fairy-tale land. His only weapon is the same cursed power that once destroyed this world—what some would call magic, and others would call technology.
As his relentless enemy draws closer, the knight’s terrible secrets begin to unfold. How many lives has he lived? Is this the past, the present, or the future? Is he destined to bring love, or unimaginable destruction? And if he fails…will humanity get another chance?
The English-language debut of Austrian-German graphic novelist Lukas Kummer arrives like a thunderbolt, arcing brilliantly between timelines, genres, and dimensions!
Diving into this story, I honestly wasn’t sure what to expect. And as I turned the pages, that feeling of wonder continued, as there were some excellent twists and turns in this comic.
It’s a clever story, as the mystery behind the knight is revealed about halfway through the book - but that isn’t the whole story, oh no! What follows builds on the past, present, and future of the worlds featured in this story, with wit, emotion, and action.
Combining the story, we get fantastic elements like knights, princesses, and various monsters. Some excellent science fiction elements exist, such as robots, toasters, and nuclear bombs.
In both instances, we get excellent blends of crime, action, and relationship issues, which meld together to make a gripping story that I worked my way through in one sitting.
I enjoyed the art style in this book. It uses a combination of colours that makes the story pop, and it uses some excellent special effects and style choices depending on where the action is happening. We do get a variety of locations, from castles to underground and city tunnels. With the action and fight scenes, we get some brilliant panels throughout.
This is a gripping tale of fable with some excellent elements. It evokes all the feelings along with being a brilliant tale.
Ionheart will be available wherever books are sold, as a full-color softcover graphic novel (ISBN: 9781603095587) as well as a digital edition, on August 19, 2025. For more information please visit the Top Shelf web site.
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