Talking about Bert, Aven and the style

Honestly, this topic is not just about Bert, Aven and the style but also about some other author's ideas. I'll devide the text into some sections for better reading.


1) The paintings

See? I started with a whole different topic as I meant to
I think I recall that the paintings are made by Owen himself. Did he join some painting school or something like that? I have the feeling that these illustrations were drawn with love but I doubt they're made by a professional. Or is it purpose? Purpose that some details look strange, kind of shapeless?

Some books have professional-made art for the readers to better illustrate the history. Many paintings make the books more beautiful, better said: the history more imaginable, but what was the intention of Owen's illustrations?

So: What do you think?


2) Owen and Aven

Even the names sound similar :/
But I really DO like Aven. She is like Miss Fortune for me (Miss Fortune by League of Legends). Who is Miss Fortune? Why do I like Aven und why do I like Miss Fortune? I'll explain:

2.1) Miss Fortune

Miss Fortune is a red-headed bounty hunter - lady who lives in Bilgewater. She was invented by Riot Games for the online game League of Legends. After being quite abandoned by summoners she got a complete rework and a new story as Captain Fortune. She lost her parents to a pirate (Bilgewater is actually a piratecountry) and has sworn to herself to avenge her parents' death. She got infamous in Bilgewater as bounty hunter and rules over her own company. In the above mentioned rework she defeated her parents' killer and began to rule the Bilgewater


2.2) Connection to Aven

The name "Aven" is amiable
Aven is a captain too and behaving very cool when meeting the company (Jon, Jack, Charles). She seems untouchable to me and like a queen. Pitty, this is all I wanted to say about Aven.


3) Bert

He's strange, isn't he? Came to Baker Street, burst in like a stormy wind, forced the company to leave their life behind them, took them to an unknown realm, left them oblivious to their fates, fighting a fight they didn't not know and did probably not care for.
What was his motivation? Who sent him? (This could be explained but if so, I don't remember).
Did the author mention anything about his characters in any interview? Would be interesting to know about.



Tired now - maybe some time later to be continued

Thanks for the post Sorry for the late answer...

James A. Owen is a professional comics artist and drawing is his main job, he started writing novels later. Therefore, the illustrations are definitely made by a professional I think I know what you mean by "shapeless" - well, I guess that's simply his style. The drawings are very well done, but I think he wants them to appear slightly (or even very) odd at times. It fits the mood, his other works are evn stranger.

I can't say anything about Miss Fortune and Aven :/

Bert is, as said in the end of Here, There Be Dragons, H. G. Wells and another caretaker. After Stellan Sigurdssons death, he searched for the new caretaker(s). Simple as that.