Publisher: Valiant Entertainment
Release Date: July 1, 2015
Price: $14.99
Writer: Peter Milligan
Artist: Cary Nord
Cover: Bryan Hitch
Format: 104 pgs., Full-Color, Trade Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-9393-4674-2
Age Rating: Teen+
ICv2 Rating: 3.5 Stars out of 5
The story is full of delightful art, action-packed fight scenes, unexplained poor character thought processes and a puzzling plot. While the story is interesting and the artwork very good, the book has a few flaws which may reduce its audience.
The first is that unless you’re already reading the Eternal Warrior series, this mini-series won't make a lick of sense. It takes place in the middle of the life of a character that's has been around for thousands of years, and he's given an assignment by his shadowy sorcerer boss that is vague, even for a shadowy sorcerer. The reader is given no sense of why he doesn't tell the Geomancer to just drop dead. You just have to know.
Another difficulty is a weirdly distorted version of history which isn't quite explained, as if Peter Milligan had been reading history texts from an alternate universe without quite noticing. This may be in order to force the story elements to happen, but still doesn’t read smoothly.
The third is the pricing. Three regular-sized comic issues, a few sketches and several pages of ads for $14.99 is not a bargain by any means.
Fans of The Eternal Warrior will forgive the weird history, but this book may not add to the number of those fans. It's a poor jumping-on point.
For older teens and up, due to graphic violence.
--Nick Smith: Library Technician, Community Services, for the Pasadena Public Library in California.
