Scales & Scoundrels #11 Review

Writer: Sebastian Girner / Artist: Galaad / Letterer: Jeff Powell / Image Comics Guess who’s back in these fantastical streets?!? Scales & Scoundrels, people! With an issue #11 that really gets you right here. *points at heart* Dorma Ironweed S&S #11 centers on the stalwart Dorma Ironweed and her return home to the Dwarven city, Archfire. Girner really goes the extra mile by filling out Dorma’s character and gifting us the core of her motivation: to buck the traditional expectations of women in her family.

In just a few pages, Girner and Galaad draw to the surface a complex, personal narrative that is peppered with the depth of the human experience. Scales & Scoundrels #11 holds within it a story that is as real as it gets: how we manage grief and keep on living. Using Dorma’s family dynamics to play that out is a stroke of genius, really. It works on quite a few levels.

The writing in S&S has always been sparse, meted, and appropriate to a ‘T.’ Issue #11 uses fresh, grounded dialogue to deliver another ‘day-in-the-life’ entry. Where it made sense to have that in place for the titular protagonist Luvander (shout out to the homie Lu on Twitter @LuTheScoundrel), it is a welcomed surprise to have the perspective shift to Dorma. Readers are given an opportunity to explore this ever-growing world through a new set of eyes. Scales & Scoundrels true brilliance lies in how it gives crash courses in the richness of its world’s cultures. S&S #11 doesn’t disap…