| Comic Review | Paul Milligan |
The Warlord #1
Writer: Bruce Jones
Artist: Bart Sears
Letterer: Pat Brosseau
Colorist: Mike Atiyeh
During
a test flight for a new type of jet, ace test pilot Travis
Morgan loses control of the craft and presumed dead. In
reality, Morgan is thrust into a barbaric land of warriors,
kings and fantastic creatures, called Skartaris, where a
brutal warrior holds the kingdom of Shamballah in his deadly
grip.
I can’t think of much to say about this book aside from the
fact that I was incredibly disappointed by it. I was very
impressed by Bruce Jones’ when he resurfaced at Marvel
several years ago to write the Hulk. But it seems like a
completely different person wrote Warlord. It reads like a
really bad 80’s comic, riddled with clichés and stilted
dialogue. I have to say, struggling through the dialogue was
one of the hardest parts of reading this comic!
And Bart Sears, who should be a perfect fit for a book like
this, is terrible. I mentioned a few weeks ago in my review
for
Batman: Legends of The Dark Knight #200
that Sears had begun inking his own work and the results are
just as disastrous here as they were in that book. Maybe
worse! It really does look like he drew the book with a
permanent marker. Sears definitely needs someone else to ink
his work.
Even though there is currently a renewed interest in the
“sword and sorcery” genre I can’t help but get the feeling
that the main reason this book exists is to keep the
trademark from lapsing. Look, if you want a good “sword and
sorcery” comic book then go buy Dark Horse’s Conan series.
It’s far superior in both writing and art. And you won’t
have to suffer through lines like “I lied… as you lied –
saying you wouldn’t do this” or “They all say that, Travis…
all the brave young men… until the day they go down in
flames.” Man, come on, who talks like that?!
Special thanks go out to Jeremy Shorr, owner of
Titan Comics for allowing us to use his advance
preview books for review purposes.
