The Reading Bud

Book Details:

Author: Sebastiano Lanza
Release Date: March 27, 2025
Series: Burn My Shadow (Book 1)
Genre: Graphic Novel
Format: E-book 
Pages: under 100 pages
Publisher: Markosia Enterprises
Blurb:
November 2113. Tharmas and K – outcasts of society – are in dire need of supplies. They journey to Leipzig, the nearest megalopolis. Here, Tharmas comes to knowledge of an impending speech by Thomas Crowley – the head of public relations of the European Commission. Tharmas is positive Mr Crowley holds a dark truth, which will lead him to what he’s after.

Review

From the very first panel, Face in the Sand pulls you into a bleak, wind-scoured world where survival is as much about grit as it is about sheer luck. This opening issue of Burn My Shadow doesn’t waste time with exposition dumps, instead, it drops us straight into the desperate trek of Tharmas and K, two unlikely companions bound together by necessity. Hunger gnaws, water runs low, and the only constants are the endless desert and the shadow of danger that seems to follow them.

The sepia-toned palette by Iacopo Calisti sets the perfect tone for this dystopian landscape where the muted colours aren’t just aesthetic, but they press down on you, almost making you feel the grit in your teeth and the oppressive heat on your skin. The dialogues keep the pacing sharp, giving urgency to their terse exchanges and adding weight to the silences between them.

What I loved most was how quickly the author establishes a sense of moral tension. This isn’t just another survival story; it’s about the choices you make when the world has stripped away comfort, civility, and certainty. The city they eventually reach is no haven, it’s a place of masks (literal and metaphorical), rigid control, and desperation. The faceless enforcers are unsettling, their uniform anonymity acting as a chilling contrast to the raw humanity of the people scraping by.

The action sequences are tight and cinematic. The supply run chase had me flipping panels with bated breath. If this first issue is any indication, Burn My Shadow promises a gritty, morally complex journey where every step forward costs something. It’s tense, atmospheric, and unflinching. It is a story that asks how far you’d go to survive, and who you might become along the way.

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