KYRIE by Matt Crotts: Review

I got my copy of KYRIE: The Curse of the Macedonian Scroll ALMOST THREE MONTHS AGO. Since that day I have read it three times but never got around to writing a review about it... until now!

Kyrie is a beautifully illustrated book with art by Matt Crotts. It is a pseudo-historical story that takes place in the year 250 CE and deals with a character that intends to steal a valuable jewel and accidentally gets involved in a much larger and more dangerous conspiracy than she bargained for.

I will not talk too much about the plot and spoil it for anyone who will want to read it. But I will say this much, you will find it a nice change of pace from the regular crowd funded comics fare readily available today. It is packed with originality and a fresh and pleasing art style and will probably not be like any comic you have read before.

The graphic novel's author, Matt Crotts, is a very likable person that I enjoy to follow on Twitter. His timeline is often full of intelligent and historical based information and he comes off as a pretty philosophically minded individual. He does his best to stay out of the "Comic Book Twitter" drama wars and clearly is an "old school Indie Comics guy" who seems to think for himself and never seems to be one of the creators who causes trouble and just lets his work speak for itself.

And I can see why because his work is top notch!

Matt was one of the few individuals that I choose to back his book just because of the way he carried himself on Twitter. I knew nothing about him before he randomly followed me there one day but I am glad I followed him back. From the first time I became aware of his campaign of Kyrie I was intrigued by the art style and also because I knew nothing about the comic book or what it would be about. I was curious and backed it hoping for the best and that I would get something unique. And I sure did because the book was a breath of fresh air within the Indie Crowd Funded scene of mostly unoriginal comic books full of bad art.

Matt's art is cram full of style, taste and atmosphere. The unique style of the art almost seems as if it was ancient pottery artwork come to life and began to "move" on the comic page. I found his use of color the most pleasing aspect of all. For reasons I cannot describe in words his choice of color pallet really suits the mood of the comic and comforts the eye of the reader. Matt is much more than just a comic book artist- he is a true artist.

The story is very enjoyable as well. I do not want to spoil much of it but I will go as far to say that it is paced well, is very original, and it worked very well with the art style and there was enough of it to make it feel "well rounded" leaving one feeling they got their moneys worth but also left them wanting more.

The quality of the physical book and its entire presentation was one of the best I have seen to date. The only book that I have received via crowd funding that was better put together than this so far was Doug TenNapel's Earthworm Jim, but that book raised 800+ thousand dollars. Kyrie's first IndieGoGo raised only 7,335$ and every dollar must have been put back into the book because it is the best dollar to quality book I have seen yet.

The book is about 119 pages (and the pages are actually numbered which is something I wish all creators would do but I digress...) and is a top quality, premium printed book. The pages are nice and the color prints on them perfectly and the front and the back covers fold out revealing a beautiful and detailed map. Also each book was signed and given a nice original head sketch drawing by the creator. Great value at no extra cost. MATT CROTTS has been one of the most consumer friendly creators I have bought from so far. I think such a thing in crowd funding, which is a business model that is ripe for potential to rip off customers, such a practice should be rewarded.

Kyrie: The Curse of the Macedonian Scroll is a great book by a stand up creator and I can't recommend it enough. But don't be disappointed if you missed out on it the first time because you are in luck! The second part of the series, Kyrie 2, is funded and can be bought RIGHT NOW on either IndieGoGo or on Kickstarter and the creator has made it easy to buy one or both of the two books if you desire. Go and check them out because I bet you will be very pleased! Let's all make a point to support good books and actually decent creators who go out of their way to create consumer friendly projects and who are good representatives of the Indie Crowd Funded Comic Book Community!