A Beautiful Indie Comic With Room to Grow - Lumen by Tony McMillen | A Comic Book Review

A personal review of Lumen by Tony McMillen, an indie fantasy comic with standout art and storybook charm—plus honest notes on style and flow.

Lumen by Tony McMillen | A Comic Book Review

It's time for an indie comic book review. I went to the 2025 Indie Comic Creator Con recently. I walked through the booths and landed on a table from creator Tony McMillen. I picked up the book Lumen. The art drew me in instantly. As I flipped through the pages, I saw something unique and charming. 

Let’s talk about the good:

It’s an interesting concept, a fantastical world, art that speaks for itself. If it was just an art book, it’d still be worth the $20 I spent. I can say that McMillen knows how to end a chapter. Which is impressive to me. It’s always the most challenging thing to do. The book feels like a modern-day mythic storybook, though the tone wavers throughout. At its highest, it reminds me of a tale to tell around the fire. 

There are also some areas where I personally struggled a bit, so let’s talk about that.

As always, my notes are from my opinion and taste. Nothing is bottomline wrong. I create the reviews for myself to help make better comics. These are just some things I think could be improved upon.

1. I have ADHD and Dyslexia, so while the art was a feast for my eyes, the balloon-less text made reading it tedious. This is undoubtedly a “me” problem, but sometimes simplicity over style is something to consider.

2. This is an opinionated complaint; it may not be right, but it may not be wrong. A lot of the story is rushing through important beats or telling me things that I would have preferred to see than to be told about. And a lot of it feels aimless, or the stakes or mission doesn’t seem clearly pointed. This is not a bad thing just a note. Sandman series does the same thing, and that is why I put it down before picking back up, but that’s just because I like to know where I’m going.

3. The characters felt a little flat. I think the teenage character, who can’t read's personality, could’ve been dialed up or honed in a little bit more. There were moments when it felt he like was a kid. Others, not so much. There’s this safe ground that the characters live in that could be enhanced to make the characters more iconic.

4. The flow of the lettering was confusing as a point. It didn’t flow from one panel to the next, and I often found myself confused about the direction to read. A lesson I learned from Blambot’s book on lettering is to snake your dialogue through the page, almost like there is a line connected between each piece of dialogue balloon. 

Extra note: be careful when formatting font so that it doesn’t get lost in the binding between the pages.

Those are my notes. 

At the end of the day, I’d want to applaud Mr. McMillen for creating an interesting piece. I’m not sure if I’d pick up the next volume, but I’m interested to see what he does next. As always, read it for yourself and form your own opinion, especially if you love fantasy comics. In my opinion, it was well worth the $20, just from the art alone. Grab it on his site: https://www.tonymcmillen.com/

Happy reading! 

And as always: support independent comics!

- Elijah Joseph

If you would like to check out my comic books and graphic novels (some could use some hard feedback) head over to www.heyycomics.com and grab a story. All reviews are written and posted with peace and love :)