I read the first two chapters of Suitor Armor months ago, loved them, and then got completely distracted from catching up and getting a review up. So after getting back on track and catching up to all 16 chapters available at this time I can say I absolutely love the series and would highly recommend it if you are in the mood for an engaging mix of fantasy, romance, comedy, and mystery.
The series follows Lucia, a lady-in-waiting that has to hide her true nature as a fairy as there is war between her race and humans. She was taken in by a human king as a child and serves his daughter Kirsi. Fast forward a few years and during a tournament celebrating Kirsi's upcoming wedding a young Mage reveals his newest creation; a formidable suit of armor animated by magic. It makes short work of the current tournament champion.
Upon it's victory it's given a rose to offer to any maiden it wishes, and while the king does so in jest the armor picks the one person who us unafraid of it, Lucia:
The series slowly unravels the mystery of the armor, the magics and world used by Norrix the mage, and the tensions between the fairies and humans. It keeps you guessing on plenty of stuff, such as Norrix's interest in Lucia, why a mindless suit of armor seems to be making decisions on its own, and what's really up with the hatred of the faeries. It's all really well tied together through the tight and engaging characterization and the fantastic emoting.
I'm just really a fan of Melanie Pulsipher's (credited as Purpah) art. It's clean and fluid, the colors are vibrant and engaging, and the design work really pulls together the worldbuilding elements.
As the story progresses Pulsipher is also experimenting with her compositions and style and giving us some really great visuals:
There's also some great queer representation as well that plays out a bit more as the series progresses, allowing a number of characters to develop more and enriching the cast.
I'm generally not much of a webcomic reader but it's series like this that really start to pull me into the format more and more. On this read through I blitzed through all the chapters in no time flat and am eagerly looking forward to more (thankfully it updates every Friday). I would also kill for this to be printed, so here's to hoping.
Do yourself a favor and check it out, at the very least you'll discover a comic that can almost entirely communicate through just scenes of adorably blushing characters.
