MISC. MANGA, *The Long-Lived King

After being given a forced early retirement by Disney+, Dana Terrace's The Owl House went on for two full seasons and an abbreviated final season. Over three years after the finale, the fans are given this one-shot manga-styled graphic novel to fill in a gap taking place before the show's epilogue. Terrace wrote this along with Mikki Crisostomo who also wrote for The Owl House and will soon be writing for Josie Campbell's upcoming Starfire animated series, and it was drawn by Daun Han who also worked on the original show and is part of Terrace's production team on Knights Of Guinevere. The story doesn't fill in a lot of the missing lore from the show as it's more of the characters self-reflecting on what lies ahead in their future, specifically King and him realizing how long his life span is. The manga design works for it making the world seem darker than it is even after defeating the final boss. In fact, the main message the story gives is relating how death is a natural part of life and not to be feared. This is why Terrace emphasized that this was a graphic novel intended for mature readers.

Taking place two years after Emporer Bellos was vanquished, the Boiling Isles has slowly been rebuilding their new tyrant-free civilization, and turning the Collector's old crown-shaped playhouse into a museum as the locals start to relearn the ways of their forgotten past that Bellos phased out when he established the Covens. Luz now has a new haircut with odango buns, and is helping to set up the museum when one of the Collector's toys goes on a rampage. A runaway giant jack-in-the-box causes Eda to get hurt which results in her learning that her curse is preventing her from being healed by magic, so the Owl Lady spends the rest of this story with broken leg. This event makes King worry more about how as a titan he'll outlive all his friends, so he's been using a memory-erasing device modeled after an old Etch-A-Sketch to remove bad memories. Luz accidently comes into contact with this device, so now she forgets a good portion of her life, so Eda and King take her to the Collector's home where he helps them go through Luz's mind to reclaim her memories. The book concludes with King and Collector discussing how scared they are of what the future might bring but a willing to tough it out all the way.

The Long-Lived King on the surface looks like its just a missing chapter from The Owl House odyssey, but it's more of look back on what one would do with their life after the main adventure has ended. We get some more world-building with the Boiled Isles citizens discovering more about their hidden history. There isn't much from secondary characters, and anyone hoping to see more of Luz and Amity's relationship will be slightly disappointed. The black and white manga really adds a new layer to the usually colorful backdrop of The Owl House, even in some of its more murkier scenes which helps direct the reader's attention more on to the main characters as the camera is focused on them instead of the bizarre enchanted realm they all live in. This is a profoundly somber note to finish The Owl House on, but it acts as a perfect interlude leading into the epilogue of the series finale and shows how the characters are still recovering from a major ordeal with what doors to the future were opened because of it.