Recently nominated for a Ringo award for Best Original Graphic Novel, Slightly Exaggerated is a fantasy adventure comic written by Curtis Clow and drawn by Pius Bak. Originally financed by a Kickstarter campaign (I was one of the backers), Slightly Exaggerated has been picked up by Dark Horse and published in paperback as of July 9, 2024. It is a story full of ambition, imagination, and more than a few holes.

Mia, a freelance archaeologist (or thief, depending on where you fall on her activities) has been searching for the three God gems, which are either fancy rocks (as Mia sees it) or invaluable divine relics for the many faiths and races inhabiting her world. Unique for a fantasy world, in a world of obvious magic and fantastical creatures, Mia seeks truth, which makes her a de facto atheist, unwilling to blindly accept mystical interpretations of the world’s considerably outlandish attributes. However, one of her latest adventures has infected her with a progressive ailment that will inevitably petrify her within a few weeks. Along with her assistant/accomplice Winston, she is hunting down the three God gems while she still has time.

Mia, unfortunately, finds herself apprehended by Lacey, a member of the Sacred Guardians. The rule of Mia’s world is that you can worship any God of your choice, but you must worship. Lacey is a cadet, and arresting one of the world’s most irrepressible treasure hunters promises her an easy promotion…until another force, seeking to use the gems for their own ends, intercepts them. Mia and Lacey must team up to retrieve the gems before they’re used for bad ends, and before Mia’s time runs out. 

Slightly Exaggerated advertises itself as a “whimsical fantasy world” that takes influence from Studio Ghibli, particularly Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind and Castle in the Sky, though it also owes a debt to Simon Spurrier’s fantasy comics Coda and The Spire. Sky-whales swim through the sky; wooden pirate ships menace riders of flying creatures. Ancient ruins cryptically guard lost secrets. Characters ride animals or pilot vehicles that fly through the sky. The artwork is graceful, though I would say there are a couple of instances of cliches in design. 

Obviously, the story does not take the side of organized religion. At best, faith is seen as a morass of empty promises and meaningless rituals; at worst, it is a source of exploitation and manipulation. Mia seeks “the truth,” which places her at odds with her world’s various magical creatures, such as an oracle that offers visions of her future in exchange for gold (and proves to be very flammable). Her honesty drives her to accept, though not without false courage, her situation and fate. The story’s focus on Mia’s quest for truth is a relief, since, if done badly, it could devolve into a screed against faith and paean for science, of which there are innumerable examples (I’m no churchgoer myself, but I appreciate my intelligence being respected). 

The truth can be a harsh thing, such as accepting there is no guarantee of an afterlife, which faith, however misguided or malicious, can at least inspire confidence in. Going into the dark with resolute, if fearful, acceptance is treated with more reverence than uncritical, if understandable, assurance of being favored by an unspeaking, distant god. 

What I would have liked to have known is what drives Mia to seek “the truth.” What happened to make her reject the accepted religious explanations? She says that it’s dishonest to accept the truth based on where you grew up and what you were told, which is valid, but it’s stated through text boxes, and, in my philosophy of writing, an ounce of show beats a pound of tell. Similarly, Lacey’s commitment to upholding the traditions of the Sacred Guardians is left unexplained; it is implied that her time with Mia had dented her previously unshakable faith and inspired her to take up Mia’s path. 

Stories of conversion and deconversion can be very powerful, and leaving so much of this fertile ground explored makes me wish that Slightly Exaggerated offered a more complete portrait of its characters and a more detailed exploration of its tantalizing world. If we were given just a smidgen more with these characters, watching them develop their particular philosophies, I believe that Slightly Exaggerated would be a much better comic. 

This is a weakness stemming from the short length of the series. As it was funded via Kickstarter, Clow could not promise a long epic; and I hope that as the story is now published professionally, there will be a chance to expand upon it. I am not saying it as someone who wanted more of the story just because I enjoyed it very much, merely more of the parts that would have elevated it from being very good to being excellent. I’m not asking for every facet to be given rigorous detail; I am saying that the characters’ arcs would benefit from greater depiction than what we got in the story. I don’t want more for the sake of more, I want more for the sake of a more complete narrative.

Slightly Exaggerated is a good comic, albeit hampered by its brevity. There’s definitely ambition, even if it doesn’t fully develop its potential. The greatest handicap is limiting it to four standard issues when it could have benefited from being at least six. Fantasy and adventure lovers will be drawn to it, and they’ll certainly benefit, even if they might wish for a couple more squirts of elbow grease.