The Kingdom is an area of land that is both self-sufficient and self-governing. It’s run by two brothers, Bruce and Robert, who are at odds with Sheriff Humbert on the outside in Cargill. People in the Kingdom live in relative peace, but when threatened, they aren’t about to let it go without a fight. After a wily and chaotic first six issues that dove almost immediately into an all-out battle between the Kingdom and Humbert’s men, the book has taken a sharp left turn into what was merely a subplot in the first six issues, but it was the story I was waiting for.

Now that the stakes have been raised to an exponential degree, we settle into a story about a possible serial killer hiding within the Kingdom. This issue focuses on the younger of the two brothers within the Kingdom, Bruce. This is exactly the sort of character dynamic I was looking for in the first six issues and why it took me a few issues to warm up to the story. It’s not just that these characters have chosen to live together to further an ideal, but who they were in relation to each other on a personal level. As for Bruce, he spent some time outside of the Kingdom as a detective. Things didn’t go well for him, it seems. After bringing up the possibility of this killer to Robert, they trek around the Kingdom hunting for information about who it could be and why.

While tension with the outside world remains strong, dredging up possible conflict from within spells some interesting times ahead for the Kingdom.

Tyler Jenkins’ artwork is really growing on me. Over the first six issues, there were images that I still see in my head – images that, at the time, didn’t strike me as powerfully as they may have been intended. I wasn’t as involved with the characters’ struggles, but with every new page I turn, I’m beginning more and more to feel them as almost mythological images – folklore. Seven issues in, and I’m hooked.

Always give this level of talent a chance, even if it takes a little longer than normal to hit pay dirt.