Lords of Death and Life by Jonathon Dalton brings comics back to its roots, in a way. As
Scott McCloud points out, if comics are defined as two or more pictures deliberately juxtaposed (most likely to tell a story, but not necessarily), then there are hundreds of examples of comics that date back to ancient times, thousands of years before the IDEA of a comic even existed. Some of the earlier examples include the
Codex Zouche-Nuttall, a Mexican codex telling the story of Eight Deer Tiger Claw. Lords of Death and Life is a fascinating read for anyone who has studied how to create comics, as it draws heavily from the visual language of these codices- mimicking style, color, figure posture and other visual cues- while breaking the rules when needed to deliver a thoroughly modern comic. It's a great example of how to take the influence of another style of art and use it to craft a story that is your own while pushing the idea of what comics can be at the same time.
