SQUIRE & KNIGHT

A knight and his squire take unique approaches to helping a plagued town.

Sir Kelton of Eldergard and Squire arrive in “cursed” Bridgetown, whose inhabitants live in fear of a nearby dragon and where everything seems to be going wrong, from failed crops to a leaky boat. Orange-haired Sir Kelton boldly vows to defeat the dragon and rides off, leaving skinny, young, blond Squire behind. Squire’s research in the Hall of Records—where a horned, three-eyed, four-armed archivist tells him about the town’s founder, a powerful wizard—reveals there is more here than meets the eye and high stakes for both townspeople and dragon. Squire puts together clues from the archivist and townsfolk to discover the truth about the wizard, the dragon, and the alleged curse. A palette of autumnal colors, effective use of light and shadow, and a variety of page layouts are visually appealing and make the action easy to follow as Chantler recognizes and subverts typical fairy-tale tropes with dry humor (Dragon to Squire: “And how did you get into my basement?”). Our hero—Squire, not Sir Kelton—is intelligent, brave, and honorable, a perfect foil to the knight’s ineffectual bravado. This tale is delightfully compact in eight chapters and an epilogue, with the possibility of more to come. Sir Kelton and Squire are light-skinned; the supporting cast varies in skin tone.

Compelling and full of adventure, with a plot as clever as its main character.