From the random stack of unread comics. My memory is fuzzy on where I got this, but I believe it was at the Arisia convention in Boston some years back.
Title: Thief: The Adventures of John Argent
Issue: 11
Date: 2006
Publisher: Rainbow Bridge Productions
Writer: Rene Blansette
Artist: Rene Blansette
The cover rather loudly proclaims that we will see a "Good Girl vs. Bad Girl" battle for the fate of the Empire! Which is probably why I bought this to begin with.
As it turns out, this is the climactic issue of a storyline involving an evil wizard out to use a powerful magical artifact to take over the Medieval empire of Charlemagne. Opposing said wizard is the thief of the book's title, along Adele, daughter of one of Charlemagne's Paladins (and a trained warrior herself). On the bad guy's side is his daughter Morganna, a sorceress (not surprisingly, with that name).
So the battle depicted on the cover gets the issue started. It's a reasonably well-crafted extended fight scene, but unfortunately 1) sinks into borderline-fetishy catfight territory for a few moments in what is supposed to be a serious battle, and 2) ends in a rather unsatisfying draw.
From there we get to the actual main event, in which evil wizard Hildemar attempts to use the power of the Merlinstone and it's up to John Argent to stop him. This leads to an even more unfortunate trope, as instead of just disintegrating the hero, as he did with a guard a moment earlier, the villain instead decides to tell the hero his entire origin story, as shown in three pages of flashbacks.
Things get a bit better with the final bit of action and a couple of epilogue scenes, which end up being the best bits of story in this.
In addition to some of the problems outlined above, there is an annoying tendency to slip into anachronistic dialogue and narration. In particular, a football (American football!) reference in the narration makes no sense at all being in this story.
On the good side, there is a beautiful two-page spread of a big kaboom during the climax, and an interesting linking between Arthurian mythology and the later tales of Charlemagne that give the story some good flavor. Adele fights pretty fiercely, and Morganna is satisfyingly nasty and treacherous in the brawl, so the whole good girl vs. bad girl thing does kind of work. Like much else in this book, it simply wasn't as good as it could have been.
Rating: 4/10
Title: Thief: The Adventures of John ArgentIssue: 11
Date: 2006
Publisher: Rainbow Bridge Productions
Writer: Rene Blansette
Artist: Rene Blansette
The cover rather loudly proclaims that we will see a "Good Girl vs. Bad Girl" battle for the fate of the Empire! Which is probably why I bought this to begin with.
As it turns out, this is the climactic issue of a storyline involving an evil wizard out to use a powerful magical artifact to take over the Medieval empire of Charlemagne. Opposing said wizard is the thief of the book's title, along Adele, daughter of one of Charlemagne's Paladins (and a trained warrior herself). On the bad guy's side is his daughter Morganna, a sorceress (not surprisingly, with that name).
So the battle depicted on the cover gets the issue started. It's a reasonably well-crafted extended fight scene, but unfortunately 1) sinks into borderline-fetishy catfight territory for a few moments in what is supposed to be a serious battle, and 2) ends in a rather unsatisfying draw.
From there we get to the actual main event, in which evil wizard Hildemar attempts to use the power of the Merlinstone and it's up to John Argent to stop him. This leads to an even more unfortunate trope, as instead of just disintegrating the hero, as he did with a guard a moment earlier, the villain instead decides to tell the hero his entire origin story, as shown in three pages of flashbacks.
Things get a bit better with the final bit of action and a couple of epilogue scenes, which end up being the best bits of story in this.
In addition to some of the problems outlined above, there is an annoying tendency to slip into anachronistic dialogue and narration. In particular, a football (American football!) reference in the narration makes no sense at all being in this story.
On the good side, there is a beautiful two-page spread of a big kaboom during the climax, and an interesting linking between Arthurian mythology and the later tales of Charlemagne that give the story some good flavor. Adele fights pretty fiercely, and Morganna is satisfyingly nasty and treacherous in the brawl, so the whole good girl vs. bad girl thing does kind of work. Like much else in this book, it simply wasn't as good as it could have been.
Rating: 4/10
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