Review - Barbaric: Born In Blood #1
Out now from Vault Comics
The barbarian stories continue in Barbaric: Born In Blood #1 - out now from Vault Comics.
A new era of Barbaric begins!
Worried Axe is going to find out you fell behind on a few issues? Scared to admit that despite all your friends raving about Barbaric for years, you still haven't joined in on the fun? Rejoice! For Barbaric: Born in Blood begins the next season of Owen, Axe, and Soren's tale. Yes, that's right! We did it...the thing everyone says they're doing, even when they're lying through their teeth: a genuinely good jumping on point. How, you ask? Well, it all starts with a compelling new bad guy.
Meet Orrick, the tortured barbarian now turned master torturer, who will take us deep into Owen's past, revealing secrets that should have stayed buried...like Axe in a chest cavity slurping up that sweet, delicious blood. Will the cursed-to-do-good barbarian finally do some actual good? Probably not! But some much worse guys will almost certainly lose their heads. Yummy!
Writers: Michael Moreci, Artist: Nathan Gooden, Colorist: Fabi Marques, Letterer: Jim Campbell, Designer: Tim Daniel & Cover A: Nathan Gooden
With Deathstalker at Vault Comics, and now a return to the world of Barbaric - plus a crossover between the two - there is a lot to get into and the fear that you may be lost in all these stories.
But fear not!
I found this an easy beginning to get into. Yes, there is magic, violence, a talking axe and some interesting social factors, but this was a well crafted beginning to a story that I feel will be easy to get into for new readers, as well as something newer from established readers.
Starting from an interesting point of a battle, this issue uses that well to establish our main characters and what they are like within battle. It’s an interesting mix, with a barbarian - with talking axe - a witch and a vampire.
Moving forward through the story, peppered with some interesting flashbacks, we get the hints towards the quest that is required of the troop. The flashbacks make an interesting backstory and build into the larger story too.
The art is excellent, combining many different climates, and also adding in a good amount of gore and magic to the mix, making some fun visuals.
As we climb the mountain - in the story as well as moving forward - there are some interesting tests of the team, and that links in nicely with the flashbacks.
In all this was a good introduction, and does a good job in not giving us all of the answers. It has a good hook to make me want to discover more.
