Kaya, Vol. 2

Kaya #7-11

by Wes Craig (Writer/Illustrator), Jason Wordie (Colorist), Tom Napolitano (Letterer)

Kaya’s worst fear has come true: her little brother, Jin, has been kidnapped. Now, despite everything she’s already been through, she’ll have no choice but to enter the Kingdom of the MUTANTS to get him back. With unexpected allies in tow, a wild adventure begins in the strange and sinister POISON-LANDS!

Collects KAYA #7-11

Genres: Comics, Fantasy, Graphic Novels, Young Adult, Graphic Novels Comics, Science Fiction

144 pages, Paperback

First published November 21, 2023

About the author

Wes Craig is the artist/co-creator of DEADLY CLASS with Rick Remender, and the writer/co-creator of THE GRAVEDIGGERS UNION with artist Toby Cypress, both published by Image Comics.

Working out of Montreal, Quebec, he has been drawing comic books professionally since 2004 on such titles as Guardians of the Galaxy, Batman, and The Flash.

Reviews

[Jayson · Rating 3 out of 5]

(B+) 77% | Good
Notes: A through-perdition rescue mission, very gripe and groan, alliance woes and magic shows, a mutant Game of Thrones.

*Progress updates: Preamble ◦ Prologue–Issue #8 ◦ Issues #9–11

[MrGlassWontBreak · Rating 4 out of 5]

Apparently, Kaya’s mom was a superstitious seer witch obsessed with birthing a prophesied magic child touched by the gods, the “Golden one”. She assured her daughter, Kaya, a prodigious hunter who would rather train with her uncle, that she was this child, and took her to a massive snake God who was supposed to bless her, but instead, ended up poisoning her after biting her right arm, which was later cut off to stop the poison. With the poison still spreading, Kaya’s uncle travels into the Thunder Mountains to commune with the Black Wizards, and at a great undisclosed cost, gets a Magic metal arm that stops the poison and saves Kaya’s life. Her mom moves on with the king and births a new “Golden One” child with him, Kaya’s little brother Jin, and Kaya’s uncle raises her as a huntress instead.

Kaya, Zothan, Keith, and his Aquarian Bride’s brother track Jin’s captors, a vile, cold-blooded mutant named Zewl and his party, into the Poison Lands. Zewl’s uncle was king of the Poison Lands until the current usurper king killed him and took over. Now Zewl is making a deal with the Atrians by handing them Jin, for help with reclaiming his family throne. Kaya is separated from her crew and loses her Metal arm while trying to evade the various monsters in the Poison Lands. Zewl casts aside Runt, the lowest-ranking member of his party, for unknowingly allowing Jin to escape slightly. Keith and the others find Kaya’s arm, and barely manage to escape an ambush by Zewl’s followers, but the Aquarian among them is fatally injured and dies shortly after. Kaya meets Runt, who decides to help her find her brother.

After almost being drowned by Zewl, and in a comatose state, Jin begins to dream and converses about transformation with an unknown entity. Kaya and Runt meet up with the usurper king and his men, informing them of Zewl’s plan to take over with help from the Atrians. Zewl’s party, with Jin in tow, meets up with an Atrian robot general and his robot troops, just as Keith, Kaya, and the Mutant King’s forces catch up to them. An all-out battle breaks out, Jin makes a deal with the entity and gains the ability to shape-shift, Keith gives Kaya her arm, and she knocks Zewl the fuck out, and the three of them escape within the commotion. After Keith comes to terms with the fact that he must marry the Aquarian princess and fulfill his duties to both their kingdoms, he sends Kaya and Jin off on their journey, returning to Goro Bay.

So we finally know a bit about why Kaya is such a sour puss all the time, and why she’s so loyal to her uncle, but I still have a few questions, like what is up with their mom, and where the hell were Jin’s parents when the kingdom was sacked? Jin is every bit the magic baby he was prophesied to be; maybe he’ll even turn into a dragon, too. The art continues to blow my mind: it’s just beautiful to look at.

[Lucas · Rating 4 out of 5]

And so the adventure continues... I'm still not entirely sure what Craig is aiming at with this series. It seems to be going for a Bone-like all ages vibe but doesn't quite have the sophistication down yet. As it stands now, it's fun, and utterly gorgeous, but I'm not getting much out of it. Also, Kaya's kind of getting on my nerves lmao. Let's say she's not a very centered person and she's always lashing out when under stress.. I do want to keep reading though. The world's interesting, and I've grown to care about its characters. And Wes Craig can draw the hell out of any environment he chooses. Each arc seems to go for a very different visual vibe so far, which keeps it refreshing. Also, it's kind of an artist crutch to go wild, but that dream/hallucinatory sequence was so damn cool. I love it when artists unexpectedly switch up their style, and Craig did it to perfection. I think I might just be picking up singles again

[Billy Jepma · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m not enthralled yet, but this second story arc gives more depth to the world and characters—although Kaya herself is still a strangely one-dimensional character—and Craig has a lot of fun with the art, which earns this the rounded-up 4-star rating. The comic feels like the kind of cartoon you’d watch and love as a kid, even though it was a little old for you, which is something I’m very much vibing with so far. I’m in for the long haul, but I do hope Craig gets into his characters more because, as cool on paper as they are, I’m going to need more from them eventually.

[kaitlphere · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story combines a whole lot of elements. Different races of people, different architecture for the different races, different environments they move through on their journey to safety. The art is done very well to keep everything both fantastical and unique between each culture and environment.

After vol 1 there were a lot of things I wanted to see out of volume 2, I got most of them. We got more time with the hot lizard guy Seth and some answers about Kaya’s metal arm. 

I appreciated the amount of time spent on the story that Jin will save humanity. This volume felt much more from his perspective, so we got to see his thoughts on that.

I'm excited to see what comes next in this story!

[Roman Zarichnyi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Цей том логічно продовжує історію, започатковану в першій сюжетній арці. Друга не лише не просідає, а й розширює світ серії, додаючи йому темряви, дивності та емоційної ваги. Сюжет із викраденням молодшого брата Каї на ймення Джин швидко перетворюється на подорож у Отруйні Землі, де за зовнішньою пригодницькістю ховається чимало тривожних ідей: про спадщину, трансформацію, відповідальність і втрату.

Особливо вдало працює розкриття минулого Каї. Історія з «обраною дитиною», помилкою матері та ціною, яку героїні довелося заплатити, допомагає краще зрозуміти її характер. А він не простий, різкий, замкнутий, але водночас дуже послідовний у вірності близьким. Так, Кая й далі може здаватися емоційно одноманітною, проте в цій арці її поведінка вже має чіткі причини, а не виглядає просто дратівливою рисою.

Окремо варто сказати про Джина. Автор чітко дає зрозуміти, що його роль у серії значно більша, ніж «дитина, яку треба врятувати». Його сни, внутрішні діалоги й перші прояви сили додають історії інтриги та відчуття великого міфу, що тільки починає розгортатися.

І, звісно, малюнок. Візуально це дійсно високий рівень. Вес Крейґ уміє зробити кожне середовище впізнаваним і живим, а зміни стилю, зокрема у сновидних або галюцинаторних сценах, виглядають доречно й сміливо.

Загалом це хороше продовження. Можливо, ще не максимально глибоке в роботі з персонажами, але захопливе, атмосферне й таке, що хочеться читати далі.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not quite as good as volume 1 - the artwork is still excellent, but as this, for the majority of the narrative, deals with chase by Kaya and her comrades pursuing her little brother Jin through the Poison Lands, it soon becomes a scripted dance between Kaya, Seth, Jin's internal monologue, the robotic Atria and the in-fighting of the tribes, culminating in a battle at the Borderlands.
It is, however, nicely bookended - at the beginning by the telling of how Kaya got her magical mechanical arm, mainly because her mother 'mistook' her to be the Chosen One, nearly killing her in the process (with a venomous snake bite); and very near the end we discover that Jin really can transform, but first he has to think small.
Did he bring a malevolent spirit through though ...?
The parting of Kaya and Seth is sad, but I doubt that's the last we'll see of him; bring on Volume 3!

[Clint · Rating 4 out of 5]

Craig continues to bring this story to life with dynamic, beautifully watercolored art. The plotting drags a bit early on with typical middle chapter meandering, but it builds to an exciting high point that I’m looking forward to following, plus a few charming character moments with Jin that left me feeling better about these issues overall.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a nice continuation of the first volume, Jin has been kidnapped so his sister Kaya ventures across the land to rescue him. We get some nice backstory on their relationship as well as learning how Kaya got that rad arms of hers.

The story itself continues on in that classic coming of age fantasy way, but it's really the art style that keeps me engaged.

[Drew Canole · Rating 2 out of 5]

The art I felt took a step back from volume 1 and the story is getting a tad unwieldy. The first volume was super cool so this was disappointing for me.

[Canavan · Rating 4 out of 5]

✭✭✭½

[Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is such an interesting and different series. This volume was good.

[Dair · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wes craig’s art and the wonderful coloring make this book a very fun read. The story is well told and feels just different enough from most fantasy stories to pull you in.

[Adetutu · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cried.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun

[Sonic · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent adventure that gets better as the story grows!

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like this story of adventure and finding ones destiny. I enjoy the mutants, robots, ghost animals, monsters..

[Blaine McGaffigan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Poison-Lands arc isn't my favorite. I couldn't really connect with the villains. But the moment when they see the ghost deer is something that's stuck with me.

[Aliyu · Rating 4 out of 5]

The end of the second story arc brings new discoveries for our characters. I enjoyed this more than the first arc because here the story is finally opening up.

[Amethyst · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was entertaining, I still don’t get the hype though

[Mee Too · Rating 3 out of 5]

These are fun, I think there like YA reads, but better then most adult stuff with its excessive nonsense "that sells books".

Which may be true, but good writing also sells books.

[Gray Turner-Uttley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Design of these really reminds me of The Umbrella Academy comics. Shoutout to Dale for giving me a nice easy comic to read as a break from novels :)