REVIEW: Is’Nana the Were-Spider: Drums of Ogoun

4.17/5.0 Stars
Rating if the Book Were a Movie: PG-13

Creative Team:

Writer: Greg A. Elysee
Artist: Sean Hill
Colors: Walt Msonza Barna
Letters: Deron Bennett
Cover: Sean Hill
Editor: Brian Lambert
Publisher: Webway Comics 

Ratings:

Story: 4.2 Stars
Artwork: 4.6 Stars
Cover Artwork: 4.1 Stars
Dialogue: 4.1 Stars
Mechanics: 3.9 Stars
Editing: 4.1 Stars 

About the Book:

Is’Nana the Were-Spider: Drums of Ogoun is the sixth installment in the saga of Is’Nana. Our protagonist is the son of Anansi, the god of wisdom, knowledge, and trickery. Being that Anansi is usually depicted as a spider, it should come as no surprise that his son is a were-spider.

Some time ago Is’Nana broke the barrier between our world and the Mother Kingdom. In doing so he accidentally allowed creatures to cross over to our world. He’s had to battle these beings to protect our world while trying to learn how to become a man, which isn’t easy when a god is your father.

In this installment we see Is’Nana come face to face with Ogoun, the Loa god of war and iron. Ogoun intends to put Is’Nana to the test by running him through a gauntlet of combatants, each fiercer than the last, to see if he can break the boy. How far will Is’Nana go to put an end to this?

Reader’s Notes:

While this is the sixth installment of this series, this is the first book in the series that I have had the opportunity to read. I regret not getting in on this series earlier.

Mr. Elysee has created a fascinating universe that is steeped in the lore of West African stories. I vaguely knew who Anansi was before reading this story, which helped. It wasn’t necessary though. Over the course of the story we got more than enough information from the narrative and dialogue to discern what roles the key players have.

A prologue with a couple of paragraphs summarizing previous events before diving into the newest adventure would have been nice. In lieu of that there are enough tidbits to help bring new readers up to speed. That is greatly appreciated!

I liked the amount of effort that went into character development for this story. From Is’Nana to Makau and everyone in between the reader gets a sense of who these characters are. Is’Nana is a great warrior. He does not want to be in combat for the sake of being in combat. He has a maturity beyond his years. Fana seems to be a pure killing machine in the short time that we see her.

I like how this cover is done. It’s very symbolic of the story. Is’Nana is caught in Ogoun’s grasp, whether he realizes it or not. Ogoun looks every bit like what one would expect a god of war to look like.

The artwork on the interior pages is nothing short of incredible. The lines are crisp and sharp. There is no shortage of detail. Most impressively, Mr. Hill managed to walk the tightrope between being vivid and so detailed that it becomes a distraction. I was very fond of how Makau was portrayed.

As a geek on a budget I ASM all in on Is’Nana the Were-Spider: Drums of Ogoun. This book has everything! Action, drama, exciting characters, exposure to a whole new universe. No stone is left unturned. This is a must read series.

You can get your copy of this book, as well as Is’Nana’s other adventures at:

https://webwaycomics.ecwid.com