Episode 3: Lovespells
http://lovespellscomic.com/ by Ryan and Sage
Lovespells is about a gay witch who falls in love with a magic knight, while trying to handle a curse
Plot overview: The witch Esther is burdened with a terrible curse. Every time her magic points run out she falls asleep!In one of these situations she is rescued by the magic knight Maria. Esther develops instant feelings for the upstanding young woman.Things seem to move into a favorable direction, when Maria asked Esther to become her pupil to polish her magic.
The story: Lovespells is a love story and focuses on Esther’s and Maria’s developing relationship. It’s seemingly simple but incredibly sweet.I would describe it as a feel-good-story. I love to return to Lovespells when I’m stressed, to escape for a while and make me feel better.Things like Esther’s curse still keep the reader on edge.
The setting: The story is set in a JRPG-world and deals with that in a creative way.Things like magic-health and status points and items that can just be magically stored away exists. The way it is set up never destroys the experience though.All these elements are brought up in a way that feels natural and as a part of the world, while giving me the feeling of playing a JRPG.
Characters: Oh boy, do I love these characters! Everyone just oozes with personality. Especially the leads Esther and Maria are incredibly sweet with all their quirks and interesting personality traits. Esther is head-over-heels for Maria and it’s fun to watch her struggle with that. It’s fun because the struggle is a result of her personality, rather than societal prejudices.Maria is a very upstanding, proper knight and I love that she’s still allowed to be very feminine. Both characters are on a similar level. The supporting characters are all very colorful and give the world a sense of being truly alive.
The art: The artwork for the comic starts out in black and white, designs and backgrounds are kept a bit sketchy and rather simple. They are still beautiful to look at. The comic later on picks up colors and details become more refined.Backgrounds are used in a greater capacity when deemed necessary, drawing the focus towards the characters.The character designs are all very varied and incredibly pleasing to look at. They reflect the JRPG design charm, while not being quite as restricted.
Queer-ness: The comic is focused on the blooming relationship between Esther and Maria. Esther is also pretty damn gay in general. Sexual orientations are not used as a crutch for cheap drama, like many mainstream works of that sort tend to often do.This makes this comic feel safe and genuine, because the focus is on how characters personalities interconnect.
Lovespells is highly recommended. It’s sweet, it’s beautiful and it gives you and absolute great feeling while reading it.
