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I've stumbled across a webcomic very relevant to my interests: Slavonica. Short fantasy stories inspired by Slavic mythology and culture, oh yesss! Specifically, drawing on/setting in Poland - the artist/author is herself Polish.

Some of you might have seen the short comic "Deal" on tumblr, in which a witch tricks the god Veles (!!!). Well, "Deal" is the first story in Slavonica. In the next (much longer) story, "The Warlock's Apprentice", it jumps to another character - dear Sambor (I adore him). And then the third story, "The Snake King", currently in-progress, centres around yet another character. I expect that when "Snake King" is finished, we'll come back to either Sambor or Mojmira the Witch again, if the author's comments are anything to judge by.

The setting + source folklore are obviously a huge draw for me, but the art is pretty cool too, if that style is to your taste. It certainly suits my taste, anyway. And I like what we've seen of the central characters so far. (I want to give Sambor a million hugs and feed him all kinds of delicious food and braid his hair, pffff... Help, I think I've fallen in love with this poor kid.)

A neat thing: while this is a minor detail that has only come up in the author's notes, and is unlikely to appear in the comic itself - the author has stated that Sambor is nonbinary*. I just kind of appreciate that they have decided to make it clear that they see their character that way, regardless of whether the subject will come up in any of the stories Sambor appears in.

So! I'm glad I took the time to read this - I've been meaning to ever since it came onto my radar a couple of weeks ago, but wasn't able to set aside time until this weekend. The comic (or comic series, perhaps one could say) isn't actually very lengthy, so if you do decide to check it out, it won't take long to get through it. The above Tumblr post for "Deal" contains that story in its entirety, and "The Warlock's Apprentice" is only 38 pages. I have no idea how long "The Snake King" will be when it's finished.

A few caveats:
-Slavonica is hosted on Tapas rather than its own website. I am not a fan of Tapas' site layout; maybe it looks better on mobile (I have no idea) but on desktop it feels kind of cluttered and scroll-y and I just... don't like that.
-Some portions of this comic are marked as Mature due to situational nudity/violence (nothing graphic, though). So, you need a Tapas account in order to read those pages, which is kind of annoying.
-The updates are erratic. Following this would necessitate subscribing, I think, since it doesn't adhere to a regular update schedule.

But, those are all fussy details, really, and don't have to do with the content of the comic itself. So, if you liked "Deal", I do suggest reading "The Warlock's Apprentice" at least, since that one is complete.

While I've flailed a bit over A Redtail's Dream previously, I wanted to make a more detailed entry about the comic and my impressions of it. I found it a delightful read, and I hope that anyone who is even a little bit interested in it will give it a try.

A Redtail's Dream is a webcomic by Minna Sundberg, who is also the author/artist of a currently-running comic, Stand Still, Stay Silent. As the author puts it, A Redtail's Dream is a story about " a young man and his shapeshifting dog on an involuntary journey on the other side of the Bird's Path in the realm of dreams. They have to rescue their fellow Villagers before their souls pass on to Tuonela, the land of eternal sleep." Complete at roughly 550 pages in length, ARTD is long enough to have some meat to the story, but short enough that it doesn't take terribly long to read. It can be read here, and is available in both English and Finnish.

While A Redtail's Dream draws inspiration from Finnish mythology and the Kalevala, it's possible to jump in and enjoy it without knowing those stories. The comic is able to stand by itself, developing in its own way. A knowledge of Finnish mythology is not required to understand this comic - though it might make the reading experience richer.

In terms of narrative, A Redtail's Dream is structured like a fairytale. Hannu and Ville are given eight tasks that they must complete before they will be able to successfully rescue the people of the village from the land of the dead. There are eight people they must find. There are eight problems that they need to solve. And so on. For some, this structure might make the story predictable. But, if you go into it expecting a fairy tale, then it's satisfying enough, because that is exactly what it delivers - with plenty of action, friendship, and self-sacrifice along the way!

One of the biggest strengths of the comic is Minna Sundberg's art. All the pages are full-colour, with characters rendered in a charming style, and beautiful backgrounds. The chapter title images are absolutely stunning, and the regular comic pages are also lovely.

Art can prop a comic up pretty well, but it can't stand on art alone. While the story is relatively simple, I find that the way it is done is satisfying, if one expects the kind of story that it is. On the characters front, Hannu and Ville are a well-matched duo. Hannu is an unlikely hero: lazy, a bit grumpy, not very social. But he understands that if he and Ville don't succeed in their mission, the village will be lost to Tuonela, and he bravely presses on - while complaining about it the whole way. As for Ville, he's adorable in all his many forms, and while he loves Hannu dearly, that doesn't mean he isn't willing to criticize his actions and his attitude when necessary, especially in cases where not doing so will make things difficult for both of them. Their dynamic works very, very well. And not only that, but their interaction is at times very funny - I laughed out loud several times while reading this comic.

As for the secondary characters, the villagers that Hannu and Ville meet along the way are varied in personality and appearance, and the "leaders" that they need to talk to include women, children, and seniors, among others. I found them interesting, and some of them very memorable - Åsa and Paju in particular have a lot of presence to them. One thing that I really, really appreciated is that Sundberg included a lot of older characters in her comic; this isn't something that I see very often in stories featuring a protagonist under 25, so I think it's worth a mention.

While I love this comic, it isn't without some shortcomings.

( Cut for length )

I'm very glad that the comic's shortcomings did not turn me off, because it really was a charming read, with beautiful art, engaging characters, and an interesting fairy-tale story. Currently, A Redtail's Dream is only available online; a few years ago, Sundberg ran a croundfunding campaign to print the book, which was a huge success. The print version is no longer available... but I hope that some day, there will be a second printing, so that I can have a personal copy for myself. :)