Review added November 27, 2011

Korgi (Book 3): A Hollow Beginning

Review by Jouni Pohjola

Christian Slade returns to the world of Korgi after a hiatus of three years.

As can be inferred from the title A Hollow Beginning, we are presented with an origin story this time around. Not only do we learn how and from where the Korgis came to live with the Mollies but we also get to know much more about the assumed primary antagonist of the series' entire story arc. The main plotline therefore gets a lot of meat on its bones with this one, although this happens at the expense of taking many mysteries away by explaining many things left unclear after the first two volumes. On the other hand, the map at the back of the book shows a number of previously unheard-of locations that may or may not become relevant to the story in the future.

The long production time (originally Korgi books were projected to come out yearly) appears to have been put to good use by Slade here. The book is the longest so far with over 100 pages and art is for the best part very well done. Slade again shows his flair for creating dynamic movement in several scenes, most especially the one involving a Creephog first plummeting down a hillside and then racing back to its master to report what has transpired (pg. 94-95). He wisely adopts different drawing style for the flashback scenes that is reminiscent of glass paintings and shows considerable skill with that as well.

In the previous reviews, I've mentioned that I find the books somewhat violent to the assumed demographic. There is plenty of nasty stuff this time around too (including but not limited to a reference to the currently quite popular blood-drinking vampires!) but at least most of the violence is perpetrated by the bad guys, which I think is a step in the right direction.

All in all, I think Korgi Book 3 is the best part of the series so far and well worth reading/perusing. Hopefully Slade can continue in the same vein and eventually finish his series with a truly brilliant story.

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Review added November 27, 2011