Mezolith

MeZolith is a Graphic Novel by Ben Haggarty and Adam Brockbank, published by the DFC. It concerns a Stone Age tribe, the Kansa, who are neighbours and enemies of The Owl People. It focuses on a young boy, Poika.


 * As Long as It Sounds Foreign: Jousten should be Joutsen (Swan). Vehlo is also incorrect in the first chapter, but later corrected to Velho (Wizard). Sotilas (Soldier) is a rather strange word to use for a stone-age tribe, even if for a dog.
 * Berserk Button: Jousten leaves the tribe when her white feather cloak is discovered, prompting her lover to go find her and bring her back.
 * Evil-Detecting Dog: The dog saves all the Kansa by hearing the voices of the devoured people in the Urga's stomach screaming what seems to be their last words before being devoured, and then waking up his master who then wakes everybody else up.
 * Full-Frontal Assault: The Urga is not clothed. And is giant. And is blue and superhumanly strong.
 * Gory Discretion Shot: Averted: the young boy bursting out of the Urga's stomach is shown in glorious detail.
 * Gratuitous Foreign Language: Pretty much every non-English name is straight-up Finnish (with some umlauts removed); Urga may be the only exception.
 * Idiot Hero: Poika. The kid gets himself gored by a bull and forces his father to do some William Telling—both through impulsive glory-seeking behaviour.
 * I'm a Humanitarian: The Urga are a race of little blue babies that turn into giant people-eating monsters at night.
 * Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Poika's rashness leads to him getting gored in the leg by a bull. He later causes his hunting party to be forced to leap into a river and end up in Owl People territory, where they barely escape.
 * Raised By Ravens: The medicine woman/shaman was abandoned as a baby in a hollow tree stump, where she survived by leaving her mouth open and swallowing flies and other bugs... and then the ravens came and adopted her. It Makes Sense in Context.
 * Ravens and Crows: The medicine woman/shaman, who lives with them out in the mountains away from the tribe and communicates with them. Somehow this has given her awesome powers of clairvoyance and medicine.
 * Shapeshifting Lover: All the Swan People are shapeshifters, but the princess gives up her swan form to stay with her lover.
 * White-Haired Pretty Girl: Jousten, the princess of the Swan People.
 * William Telling: Poika's father is forced to shoot an arrow into a tree, right above Poika's head, to get them safe passage from the Owl People. It's played straight down to the father having a second arrow to shoot the Owl People leader if he had missed.
 * Would You Let Us Go For A Pretty Shiny Cube: How they get away from the Owl People the second time.
 * Wounded Gazelle Gambit: The Urga use their baby shape in the daytime to get picked up and carried to villages by sympathetic people. Then they turn into giant blue monsters and eat everybody.