Tag: comics

Review: Warhammer Graphic Novels

On By GaryIn reviewLeave a comment

Games Workshop announced last year that they would be republishing three of the most cherished Warhammer Fantasy graphic novel compilations. Of course I immediately got hold of three of all three and gave them a read. The three lucky enough to get selected were Condemned by Fire, Forge of War, and Crown of Destruction. Below is my look at each in turn.

Condemned by Fire

Rapier and Pistol in the Grim World of Warhammer

The graphic novel was written by Dan Abnett.  I’d never actually had the pleasure of giving it a read, which is strange, seen as I absolutely love Warhammer’s witch hunters. The basic plot sees Magnus Gault, a witch hunter of the Order of the Silver Hammer tracking down a heretic called Magister. Now, anyone who follows this blog will now that I love witch hunters. So this one had to be good. The blasphemous wretch is hunting eventually seeks refuge in a forgotten village called Loughville which Magnus is warned is the site of some foul sorcerous evil. Being the hardened witch hunter, he decides to go to Loughville to finish off Magister, only to realise that the place has been taken over by worshippers of Nurgle, the father of Decay. Magister has been killed by their unholy diseases and they attempt to inflict the same fate on Gault. He breaks free and through guile and wit overcomes them and sees them all blown to pieces. He then realisesBLPROCESSED-condemned-5.jpg that the chaos taint was spread in the water. This causes him to then begin tracking the river back to its source. The story then becomes and episodic adventure with Gault moving from place to place overcoming enemies using his rapier, pistol and sheer Sigmarite faith. He meets two companions along the way. The first Franz Vogel, an imperial Greatsword of the Averland province. The second is Vargni Valnirsson, a dwarf. While I really enjoyed watching Vogel and Gault beat up various enemies together, I feel that Vargni was introduced too late in the book for me to feel any significant attachment to him. The plot is reasonably predictable as is to be expected of anything to do with Warhammer. It does however, allow itself a few twists and turns, including who is behind the taint in the river (hint: it isn’t followers of chaos!) and some various details pertaining to specific characters.

The primary artists, Ian Edginton and Rahsan Ekedal, really evoke a real sense of the dark and brooding nature of the Warhammer world with their bright and crisp artwork. When Franz Vogel tells his story, we’re treated to a different artist which really allows us to experience that micro-story in a different and original way. The explosions and fighting are visceral, violent and vibrant, something which does the book credit. Overall I would recommend this republication of Condemned by Fire to anyone who likes Warhammer Fantasy and misses the Old World. I hope that this might signal a return of fantasy novels by Black library. I won’t however  hold my breath just yet.

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Concerning MARS ATTACKS

On By GaryIn ConcerningLeave a comment

MARS ATTACKS was originally a set of collectable and tradable cards released in 1962 for children. The original set contained 55 cards and each one detailed an aspect of the Martian invasion of Earth, and the eventual resistance and counter-invasion of Mars by humanity. Topps, the owners of the series, had to end production of the cards prematurely because the violence depicted and the implied sexuality of certain cards. My first experience of MARS ATTACKS was the 90’s film by Tim Burton. It’s bad, it’s really bad. I love it. MARS ATTACKS has always had a good sense of dark humour and the film captured that wonderfully. The giant brained, bog-eyed Martians evoke that camp, over the top comedy so well. I heard as well that the iconic ‘ack ack’ noises that the Martians of the film make is actually the quacking of a duck played backwards.

Card no. 36. My all time favourite.

It wasn’t until a while later however that I really began to appreciate the silliness of MARS ATTACKS in any meaningful way. In October 2013 Mantic Games ran a Kickstarter for their MARS ATTACKS miniatures game. I’ve had a quiet respect for Mantic for the last few years and was sold fairly quickly on the idea of 28mm Martians with freeze/death/heat rays against hapless soldiers. I suppose this pose is a semi-review of that game, as well as a discussion of the series as a whole.

When my pledge arrived I was astounded at how much they’d given me for my money, as well as the quality of the items. The rules are derived from Mantic’s other game, Deadzone, albeit simplified so anyone can pick it up. My brother isn’t really into miniature wargaming but I managed to convince him to give this one a go and we had a blast. The randomness of the rules create a truly over the top feel. He, playing as the Martians, pressed my poor soldiers back through the ruins, killing them all with disintegration rifles. As he was about the finish off the last few of the remaining members of my band of brothers something unexpected happened. A herd of flaming cows came reeling in from off the board and trampled his alien friends. In quick succession, before the Martians could recover, a giant spider erupted from the ground, the result of weird Martian science, and began devouring the scattered aliens. I seized the opportunity and pressed the attack. I think I still lost that game in the end, I can’t remember too well, though what I do remember is that it was fun and funny.

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