Oakley’s plan is interrupted by the Bandaged Man. Is there time to fall back to Molly’s original plan? Find out in Wynd #3 from BOOM! Studios.

WYND #3

Writer: James Tynion IV
Artist: Michael Dialynas
Letterer: Aditya Bidikar
Editor: Eric Harburn
Publisher: BOOM! Studios
Cover Price: $4.99
Release Date: August 26, 2020

Previously in Wynd: Yorik’s dying father extracts a promise from him to keep the Blood Laws against people with magical blood, even though at heart Yorik is against this. Oakley overhears her mother Molly talking with Basil, the King’s advisor and friend of Yorik. Molly talks with Oakley and Wynd about how the Bandaged Man orchestrated a mass killing of magic-blooded people. Molly also has a plan for Wynd to leave town and go to Northport, a friendly city. Oakley comes up with an idea by which Wynd can stay in town. On the night Molly planned for the boy to escape, he and his friend sneak off. That same evening, Basil is helping Yorick and Thorn to sneak out of the castle.

THE NIGHT EVERYTHING CHANGED

Wynd #3 opens up with Wynd, looking terribly out of place among pipe workers, waiting for Oakley. She takes him to a hatchway, opens it up, and closes it behind them. She is an observant girl, and she has heard people talking of a place where “weirdbloods” gather. Even more, she has heard of a witch who can extract the magic from their blood. Before long, a strange, cloaked figure meets them to escort them to said witch. As they travel, he tells them the story of Esseriel, their world. It’s somewhat complicated, linking the four races of humans to the four Winds, and telling of how the God of the Wild Wood created the races of Faerie in response. Mankind fell, and their last outpost is Pipetown.

They arrive at their destination and their guide reveals himself to be a person with pointy ears and who has half turned into some wild, green creature. And indeed, deep below Pipetown there is a secret outpost where many more cloaked people, all at least partially afflicted by magic, have gathered and are living. Wynd steps up when the gatekeeper calls for the next patient. It turns out there is a stiff fee for this process, but Oakley has saved up for it.

They meet the witch, who is not witch, but is rather a doctor named Myr. She is fascinated by Wynd, asking him all sorts of questions and collecting a blood sample. As she starts to examine it, the Bandaged Man arrives with troops. Myr sends Oakley and Wynd away, telling them to get to Northport, and she and her people will do what they can for the rest.

The children make it back home, terrified, and find Molly in the basement, this time with Yorik and Thorn. Molly has been with the Duke’s Men this entire time, and she has a plan for the youngsters to escape to Southport along with Yorik and Thorn, and she will be their guide. At least that’s the plan right up until the time that the Bandaged Man shows up at her restaurant…

A WORLD OF INTERESTING CONTRASTS

One of the things that fascinates me about Wynd #3 is the dichotomy presented in Pipetown. So much of it appears to be quasi-medieval, as you might expect from a hero’s journey kind of tale. But Pipetown has an added mechanical bent. With the coveralls, rubber boots, wrenches, and lunchboxes we see, parts of this city feel more modern. We see this dichotomy again in the underground encampment. The cloaked weirdbloods resemble an old depiction of a leper colony. Then we find out that the so-called witch is a doctor, doing transfusions and examining blood under a microscope.

This is a double-sized book, so there is room for the cosmology of the world. It fills in a lot of back story with an entire version of the fall of mankind, but it is also very pretty. The lines are lighter and the colors have a richer feel to them despite being somewhat pale. This legendary time of peace and progress does harken back to a mythological era. We see the four races only briefly, but enough to see they have cultural differences. In a handful of pages, we get the sense that this is a world with a long history.

BOTTOM LINE: UNLIKELY COHORTS ON INDIVIDUAL QUESTS

While Wynd #3 is plainly about the title character, there is a lot more to this world than his story alone. I like that the world has such distinctive flavor, and the four characters who have now come together intrigue me by their huge differences.

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