There's so much happening in the world today that it's often hard to focus on the fact that Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014 and seriously escalated in 2022, prompting the largest and deadliest war to reach the continent of Europe since World War II. Right now, Russian troops occupy twenty per cent of Ukraine; tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilians and hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian military forces are dead; a fifth of the Ukrainian population has been displaced and another fifth has fled the country, causing a major international refugee crisis. We can't forget about this.

Iryna Stroganova certainly hasn't forgotten, but then she's Ukrainian, even if she currently lives in Missouri. Her 'Sunflowers Follow the Moon' comic book series keeps the Russian invasion as a key focus, not least through the cover art which riffs on the Ukrainian flag. The bottom half is still the vibrant yellow it should be, in the form of a field of sunflowers, but the top half, which should be a vivid blue, is almost obscured by blood and thunder. It's a striking image to kick off a new issue.

The first issue was notable for its use of colour and that continues here, especially in the first half, which tells a new story about Dorian. He's a fitness freak who runs a lot and works out at the gym but doesn't study enough. His mother warns him that, if he fails his university entrance exams, he will get drafted, and, sure enough, that's what happens.

All the early pages are bright and packed with colour, even when there's a sinister undercurrent. One page features a bright blue bowl full of salad, then compares a fried egg on a left page panel with Dorian against a bright yellow circle of light to its right. The fried egg is being sliced in half and we don't need a psychology degree to imagine how that might translate to this young man's future.

After he fails his exams, the brightness in his life starts to bleed away. A page with bright yellow buses is followed by a blander one with him in camouflage. After two years on the battlefield, the brightest thing in his life is blood. Even that bleeds away, when everything turns to disaster. He's two days away from coming home when he's crippled by an explosion; his mother, already dying of cancer, catches COVID in hospital and passes away. Suddenly he's black and white, with occasional shades of grey. Even when his brightly-coloured friends show up to take him out, he's the shadow behind them, looking almost gothic with his black hair, black clothes and black wheelchair.

None of this follows anything in the first issue of 'Sunflowers Follow the Moon', but that featured creatures from Ukrainian mythology: the monstrous htoñe, wielded as a weapon by the Supreme Leader, Vladimir Putin, and the tragic mavka, the spirits of the newly dead, including a young lady who's drowned. We'll return to her story in the second half of this issue, but, before we do, we're introduced to a new creature, one without a name and which doesn't show up any results for me in a quick Google search.

It's a memorable creature, a giant spider whose head is comprised of the top half of a young lady, one wearing a T-shirt, no less. Hilariously, she threatens to kill him if he doesn't leave and he tells her to go ahead. That prompts conversation and sympathy and a twist that I totally didn't expect. Suddenly there's hope but it's accompanied by wild change, as this creature warns, and as the title of this second issue emphasises. I presume we'll see more of Dorian in his new form in issue three. I'm looking forward to seeing where this story goes.

Before that, we revisit the young lady drowned in the first issue who becomes a mavka or spirit. It seems that she's accepted that she's dead now but has no idea what she is instead and, while there are other mavki there to explain, they don't explain to us, so we're left hanging. Again, I want to see where this story is going but I'll need to wait for the next issue. While both of these characters have encountered the war, they haven't gone back to it and I wonder if that's the next step. Putin is using mythological creatures to wage his war, so why not let Ukraine send mythological creatures right back at him? I'm up for reading that!

Issue two is more plot-driven than issue one, without pages of impressionistic imagery. The Dorian story gets right down to business and evolves to a natural point. It's not over, of course, but it's at a point where we can shift elsewhere. The mavka story moves forward but not to a point where we really know where it's going, unless you know what the "eye of all mother" is. Maybe that's a basic gimme for Ukrainians but it isn't to me. The two stories don't connect either, though I get the firm feeling that they will. Presumably all this will be explained in issue three.

As with the first issue, this is clearly an indie comic. The artwork is raw and unpolished, but vivid in its use of colour. The lettering is a little less wild but still clearly done by hand and one not used to lettering comics. There's no attempt to emulate traditional style but it's always legible and it gets the urgency of the situation across perfectly. While Strogonova is presumably safe in Missouri, the effect is of a comic created under the trying conditions like a Russian invasion. It feels like she put this together with drones exploding overhead and the screams of the dying outside her walls. It's a heady and thoroughly effective atmosphere.

Thanks again to Iryna and Joey for sending this one over to me to read and review. I hope that the war ends tomorrow so that issue three can be created during a time of peace, the most pressing concerns recovery and mourning. Assuming that doesn't happen, let's send these creatures to war and see what effect they can have. ~~ Hal C F Astell

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