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Lyle Zapato

Fae Archaic: A Crime-ridden Fairy Tale

Lyle Zapato | 2019-06-03.4950 LMT | Cephalopods | Art

Fae Archaic is a graphic novel by Kirt Burdick set in a fantasy world where faeries ride toads, bats, and monkeys while engaging in various schemes and political intrigues.

I've only read the samples he's posted, but part of the story seems to follow a crusty old faerie smuggler named the Autumn Sailor whose toad mount has become possessed by the spirit of another faerie named Jocker Blune, who died in some sort of weird ritual at the hands of literally blood-thirsty ruling society faeries. Blune uses his psychic connection through the toad to twist Autumn Sailor's mind into a "bizarre tapestry of paranoia and fear" to some end...

Of particular interest to me, one of the dangers faerie smugglers must deal with in the Fenceland Forest are tree octopuses, or "arborland flesh-webs".

As you can see in the examples above, Burdick's art is a very detailed. He cites old adventure strips like Prince Valiant and Flash Gordon as inspiration. You can find a lot more samples, including sketches and in-progress works, on his Instagram account, @fae_archaic. You can also read some of his world-building posts on his Reddit account, TurkkruT-182.

He just [re]launched a Kickstarter for a hardcover print of the book and other items. It runs until July 18, 2019 with a $6,800 goal. The lowest tier is a digital copy for $5, so if you like what you see, check it out. (Disclosure: I backed it.)

UPDATE 2019-06-06: The Kickstarter was temporarily canceled by Burdick due to a miscalculation in shipping costs. He says he plans on relaunching it as soon as possible and will send current backers a free digital copy of the book.

UPDATE 2019-06-17: The Kickstarter was relaunched. I've updated the links, end date, and goal above to the new one.

There's also a trailer video with some limited animation:

End of post.