Sirk TV Graphic Novel Review: HIGHEST HOUSE [IDW]

The essence of dark myth tends to resonate with current social dynamics dependent on the ideals being resonated. With "Highest House" [Mike Carey/IDW/188pgs], the house itself is a metaphor for the emergence of civilization from chaos or perhaps an oligarchy. But like most stories, it is one of a singular voice that broaches a much larger force to become the representation of the chosen one or perhaps a martyr or even a Trojan Horse. Whether that can be a figure of fiction like Anakin Skywalker or a figure of religion like Jesus Christ, actions dictate results ultimately. In this story, that figure is Moth. As a young boy, he is sold off as a slave by his mother in order to save his other siblings from starving. They will not take his sister since it is only a matter of time before she is stricken by blindness. The story unfurls since the conjurer or chemist as it might be sees something within him. At Highest House, which is the throne of power for the family known as Aldercrest, Moth is drawn into a agreement with an old power hidden beneath the rock. Like most perceptions in the story, it is a balance between human behavior and a bit of the super natural moving it along. The characters are all founded and created, especially the female characters. From Fless, the roofer that teaches Moth a trade to Esu, the princess he loves but who is in love with her chambermaid to his blind sister, the masks and angles of layers within the women are undeniable whereas the men are mostly relegated simply to essences of power and politics. Moth is the only one that rises above this structure and this, of course, is by design though he finds some reticence at times in his action. This volume ends in a divergence of thoughts and what might become. The post script story especially regarding a woman that would become known as Queen Ka is an exceptionally interesting parable of power. "Highest House" is able to progress its story of power and fable but it's greTest strengths come in the vision of its female characters.B

By Tim Wassberg