I was very impressed with creator Henry Chebaane’s The Panharmonion Chronicles, with its complex, densely layered narrative, socially aware commentary and superbly detailed art, which gave the graphic novel a grounded and realistic feel, despite the fantastical, science fiction elements infused throughout the narrative. The script and art also gave the story a remarkably tangible sense of time (should that be times, perhaps?) and place, with familiar, real world locations in London giving it a genuinely fascinating appeal to me in particular, as someone who grew up in and around England’s capital.

That same trick is pulled off in Chebaane’s latest graphic novel, Kingdom United: Clean Up London #1. The London streets and landmarks really centre the story; again, as someone who has intimate knowledge of various areas around the city, it had a real impact on me.

I’m getting ahead of myself, however. This first issue contains the first two chapters of the story, and it focuses primarily on botanist Neeta Rao, torn between her current scientific work and that of her expected path, in her family’s cleaning business. After tragedy and violence strikes, however, Neeta’s sense of duty and justice truly kicks in, and she is determined to clean up the streets of London in more ways than one.

Though I found The Panharmonion Chronicles to be a little difficult to follow at times, with its truly ambitiously dense narrative, the same couldn’t be said for Kingdom United’s first issue, which takes a much leaner approach.

That’s not to say that there isn’t plenty going on, however, with its blend of family drama, short bursts of gritty, violent action and righteous socio-political commentary. It’s another impressive creation from the talented Chebaane, whose script is complemented by phenomenal artwork. Fabio Jacomelli illustrates chapter 1, and Marika Cresta provides the art for the second chapter; both give Chebaane’s story a similar level of realism, detail and the solid geographical setting that was seen in The Panharmonion Chronicles beforehand.

It’s a potent, sometimes shocking story, and its fury at the rise of racism and white supremacy in general is understandable, relatable and, sadly, timely to boot. That said, it’s not as if this kind of bigotry hasn’t been on the rise for the last decade or more, thanks to the grifting and divisive politics of the far right gaining traction not just in England, but across the globe too.

In any case, I can highly recommend Kingdom United: Clean Up London #1, which is a beautifully produced physical book; it’s nicely oversized (if you’re used to US comics at least!) and very high quality. You can buy it directly from Etsy.

Many thanks to Henry Chebaane for providing me with a physical copy of Kingdom United: Clean Up London #1 for review purposes.

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