BY THE HORNS #1, available from Scout Comics on February 24th, 2021, introduces readers to Elodie, a bereaved hunter determined to wipe out all magical unicorns as revenge for the death of her beloved Shintaro. When unicorns become scarce and Elodie’s obsession goes unsatisfied, Elodie leaves her village to make peace or wipe out the last unicorn, whichever comes first.
The Details
- Written By: Markisan Naso
- Art By: Jason Muhr
- Colors By: Andrei Tabacaru
- Letters By: Jason Muhr
- Cover Art By: Jason Muhr, Andrei Tabacaru
- Cover Price: $3.99
- Release Date: February 24, 2021
Was It Good?
Yes, there’s a lot of promise here. The story feels small because you’re getting nearly everything from Elodie’s perspective, but that simply means there’s plenty of room to expand and get to understand this larger world.
The art is fun to see. It’s bright, imaginative, colorful, and that works in the story’s favor to keep the mood up. That said, the somber moments could have used a muted palette to convey the heaviness of the scene more effectively. But overall, it’s very good art.
What’s It About?
[SPOILERS AHEAD]
We begin with an introduction to Elodie. She’s a farmer-turned-hunter on the search for unicorns. Pickings have been slim lately, and she’s reduced to killing monsters, bringing the heads back to her village to make whatever use they can out of them.
Unicorns, in ways not yet explained in this first issue, were responsible for the death of her friend (possibly lover), Shinataro. Elodie is driven to kill every unicorn as revenge, but her insatiable revenge quest is causing her to neglect her responsibilities to the farming village. “You don’t work, you don’t eat,” as the saying goes, and the village leaders have no more use for monster heads when the fields need tilling.
Old Wren counsels Elodie on giving up the hunts. Shintaro is gone, monster hunting is dangerous, and the village leaders have run out of patience with a resident who doesn’t help with the town’s livelihood. When Elodie refuses, the town leaders banish her for a year to get vengeance out of her system.
Months later, Elodie wanders the countryside with Sajen, her telepathic dog-deer (Sajen looks surprisingly coherent on the page). Still searching for unicorns, the wayward duo makes their way to a small harbor town in need of food and lodging.
The quiet moments between Elodie and Sajen set the stage for the strength of their relationship and their mutually shared affection for Shintaro. He, although passed on, binds them in a common cause — Elodie hunts unicorns and Sajen protects Elodie.
Shintaro is apparently one special guy, but it would have helped to get a little more about Shintaro as a person or how he died. Without that background, readers are left to take Elodie’s word for it. That may be a lot to ask when readers have only just met Elodie for the first time. Hopefully, this gets solidified in coming issues.
In the port town of Lycus, Sajen notices there’s too little magic for a population this size. Elodie finds a magical items trade shop and asks where all the magic has gone. The shopkeeper reluctantly explains a nearby wizard has confiscated all magical items to boost his power, and he demands any new items bought or traded to the townspeople be sent to him on a regular basis, including unicorns.
We end with a peek at the wizard with his unicorn captives and a concerning thought. Everything about this issue is enjoyable so far, but there’s a nagging moral dilemma that grows and creeps until you get to the final page. Without a clear understanding of how Shintaro dies, Elodie’s ceaseless quest to kill off the unicorns becomes genocidal when it’s revealed the unicorns are intelligent creatures with families and relationships. You’d be hard-pressed to ever say genocide is okay, so it will at least be interesting to see how Naso gets Elodie out of this corner she’s painted herself into.
Final Thoughts
BY THE HORNS #1, available from Scout Comics on February 24th, 2021, takes the classic beautiful-maiden-and-unicorn relationship and turns it into something completely different. The art is bright, clean, and beautiful. The writing, especially the talks between characters, feels organic, natural, and original.
Score: 8/10
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