A narrative without dialogue or text to guide a reader can be tricky to pull off, but Hirnfire really does pull you straight into a strange, alien world from the get-go. You travel through intricate environments alongside the pilot, meeting creatures and beings with the same questions you can assume the pilot is asking too.
The hand drawn, sketchy line work is charming and really refreshing to see in an era where character is often sacrificed for universal appear. Hirnfire has that personal edge where, when you're pausing to look at the finer details of one of the textured panels, you remember somebody drew this entirely.
There's no end to the fun character designs and world building; everything revealed to the reader begs a question and the personhood of all conscious beings is relayed so well. Characters are expressive even when faceless, the interactions are dynamic—
I found I had a favourite funny little guy pretty quickly, albeit all of the characters have personality and traits that had me go back to pages again.
I especially loved the scale difference between pockets of the story; the vastness of the alien plane grows larger as the story progresses and more lore is introduced along the way. Even when the story ends and the surrealism of the reality is concluded, you know there must be so many more stories happening by the sheer vastness alone.
Obviously I enjoyed this— thank you for sharing this!! The whole read was a treat 🤗