 Borough of Churches
 Story by: Adam ChealArt: Amrit Birdi
Colours: Mike Summers
Published by: Ellipsium Entertainment Â
Welcome unsuspecting visitor to the delightful world of Ellipsuim Entertainment! What better way to make their acquaintance than by reading their flagship title: Borough of Churches! BoC is a swaggering book to announce with, and we are served up a confident offering from the author of Terminus at Fenton’s Green and also the excellent Toxic Storm.
In issue 1, we are introduced to the mysterious Borough of Churches, firstly by a textual section at the beginning of the book and then, latterly, by an in-depth explanation by means of a graphic and gruesome (in a delicious sense) origin. Leading the way is Charlie Swanson, the head of the BoC. Charlie is, thanks to Amrit, one hot lady. And thanks to Adam, Charlie is a complex, dark, badass central character. We don’t meet Charlie until after the first act of the book, which is a historical taste of the origins of the BoC – and it arrives courtesy of a decapitating slice from a righteous piece of swordplay.
When Charlie makes her first appearance in the book we meet the light side of her story, of her career, family and success. Since this is an Adam Cheal story, it is no surprise that there is a sense of foreboding with her. And that being said, we learn of the dark side to Charlie’s life; it’s good, solid stuff!
Adam knows how to run a story and the Borough of Churches is paced perfectly. In Charlie Swanson, we have a female lead who is a compelling character, suitably sexy but with enough development to set her aside from her contemporaries. The art for the book is delivered by UK artist Amrit Birdi, and he really delivers with a solid and competent style. By turns the art is gruesome, sexy, imposing and stunning. Visually, the story touches on horror, history and intrigue. If this is the barometer for future Ellipsium books then we will be in for some quality times.
Issue 1 wraps with Adam flowing at his best, the ending falls and you feel a shock as you really are in the sway of the story and you don’t want it to stop. The hope is high for issue 2 to maintain and progress Borough of Churches, as the story so far is an engrossing offering from this new company.
