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While browsing the comic book shop earlier this month, my boyfriend found a comic called Warlands. Looked at the cover and idly flipped a couple of pages, it became obvious that it was a fantasy book with good artwork... I was skeptical, due to some previous bad experiences with fantasy books. He happens to be a more optimistic comic reader than I am, so we came home with the first two issues.
I was pleasantly surprised. Not only was it a true fantasy comic, not based in Ireland, not having anything do with Arthurian legends, not starring some impossibly built woman in a scandalous costume with a name starting with Lady (believe me folks, ladies didn't dress like that!), but it was... good! The drawing is good, the colors are pretty, the characters are likable, and the plot, while not the most original, is well-written. On top of that, the dialogue tends to be realistic, flowing well.
The story is set in a place described as "..the peaceful Eastern kingdoms of Warlands". One naturally has to ask themselves "If it's so peaceful, why's it called Warlands?". I haven't figured that one out. Maybe the exciting sounding name drives up the land value. As we all know, no one would read a comic that was all about peaceful kingdoms and all the peaceful things happening there, so right away we get to the conflict. For the good ol' reason of world domination, the vampire clans of Datara invaded Warlands, fighting against the allied Humans, Elves, and Dwarves. Victory by the evil nightwalkers seemed evident, until their leader discovered an ancient text, speaking of the downfall of the vampires, all due to something called the DarkLyte armor. Fearing the wrath of the Gods, the vampire leader ordered his troops to retreat.
At the beginning of this story, it has been many centuries of peace and prosperity in Warlands. However, the vampire leader has decided that it's about time he seized this DarkLyte armor, apparently believing that if it's in his possession, it certainly can't cause his downfall. So, once again Warlands is under attack. The story unfolds at Shal-Hazar castle, which seems to stand as a lookout both across the water, and at the Myrish border (not sure whether Myrish is the country they're in, or the one they border. some things are a bit unclear). The place doesn't last long, and the only survivors end up becoming Our Heroes, the main characters of the saga. The main hero is a young knight-like soldier named Jerrel, pretty much your standard fighter type, though apparently above the normal barbarianish intelligence. The other characters are a female elf named Elessa (the elves in this book are a bit strange looking, their ears stick out sideways from their heads), an old mage named Delezar, and a young seer named Zeph, who Delezar looks after.
The characters and story have a good deal of promise, and from what I gleaned while reading the ever-helpful "Letters Page", there are to be three stories, each with 12 chapters, for a total of three years worth of stories. Given the quality of the book, I can easily see it lasting that long.
Warlands is published by Image, but is copyright and trademark of another company, called Dreamwave Productions. Pat Lee does the pencils, plot, separations, and fx, the writer is Adrian Tsang, and there are about a half-dozen other people doing the less-glorious jobs, such as editing.
Two extra added bonuses are that the whole comic is in color (which seems strange after so many black and white Skeleton Key and Tick comics), and not only that, it's printed on magazine stock, giving the color that nice shiny quality.
Warlands has been added to my must-read list, and I suggest that any fantasy fan give it a try.
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