A young pickpocket gets more than she bargains for when she steals a giant ruby from the back of the enigmatic Stone King himself  (who is like a rocky Tree Beard meets The Iron Giant).

Publisher: Sorcery 101
Writer: Kel McDonald
Artist: Tyler Crook
Price: £1.99 from ComiXology

This simple summation doesn’t do justice to this wonderful new book from the comiXology Originals stable. Writer Kel McDonald and artist Tyler Crook have built this wonderfully rocky world for their characters to live in, and it’s brought to life by some utterly sumptuous artwork from Crook, who uses this beautiful digitally painted style to give every panel, even the lettering, that granular, textured feel of rock and stone.

From the opening scenes that see our protagonist Ave climb on to the lumbering Stone King in an almost wordless action sequence that is as thrilling as it is beautiful you know you are in for something really special.

The Stone King gets rocky

Although the scenes in the city feel fairly formulaic and like the kind we have seen in a hundred other city-based fantasy stories like Paradiso, it is the book’s ending scenes with the Stone King that really helps it to stand out and sow the seeds for what’s to come.

It’s also interesting to see a very gender neutral lead in Ave, who is designed to look like a boy but described as a girl and this  along with some other subtle nuances to the story, that leave us asking plenty of questions ready for issue two. A stunning debut and the best comixology original yet!

The Stone King