The long and the short of it, there’s a lot of material to cover in this book, and that’s a good thing. Out of the Past distinguishes itself from Shadow of the Queen and has learned a few important lessons. Telling four stories instead of one over the course of 88 pages demands tighter structure and perhaps simpler self-contained ideas. I think the book benefits on the whole. We get to see more characters following their own arcs, spared attempts to entwine them all into one plot that would only stretch them thin. They also each nail a personal, crucial aspect of each character’s development. Shadow of the Queen had a similar goal, but magical shenanigans distracted it from that purpose.
That said, this collection has its share of strengths and weaknesses, and they need to their fair share of consideration. Much as I tried, I couldn’t do the whole book justice in one review. So I’m breaking up Out of the Past into four “short reviews” for your reading pleasure. You can go directly to those reviews here: Dead in the Water (Captain Hook), Truth and Daggers (Rumplestiltskin & Belle), Ghosts (Evil Queen), Tea Party in March (Mad Hatter).
One general note: the artists for every entry bring interesting and appealing styles across the board. I personally favor Betsy Peterschmidt (Truth and Daggers) and Janet Lee (Tea Party in March), as their styles best fit the settings of those respective stories and physically recreate the characters quite faithfully. Vanesa del Rey and Esther Sanz (Ghosts) use a gritty palette almost overwhelmed by black, so it’s often hard to see the characters or the action; however, in the particular case of “Ghosts” it more or less suits the theme and tone. Pascal Campion captures the vast power, chaos and beauty of the sea in “Dead in the Water”, but he renders people in broad details, almost blocky at times, which stands out most in close-quarters scenes between characters.
All right, then. To the reviews!
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