Tall Tails: Thieves' Quest #5

From the Random Stack of Unread Comics.

Title: Tall Tails: Thieves' Quest
Issue: 5
Date: November, 2001
Publisher: Dreamweaver Press
Writer: Jose Calderon
Artist: Daphne Lage

I reviewed #1 here, #2 here, #3 here and #4 here.

Following an encounter with a force of raiders, the cousins Ravenwood and Cromwell manage to escort the runaway Prince Christian to Garrison Hadge, the stronghold of Earl Hadge, the King's cousin.

Silvermain and Gabriel are dispatched to arrange passage on a ship, but they manage to find only trouble in the waterfront district.

This issue had a tighter focus than the previous one, and managed to get in some good little moments of character development, in spite of it being something of a transitional installment in the long-term story.

The ending scene was a nice cliffhanger, and the story continues to be spiced with some complex ongoing political intrigue.

Rating: 6/10

Tall Tails: Thieves Quest #4

From the Random Stack of Unread Comics.

Title: Tall Tails: Thieves' Quest
Issue: 4
Date: October, 1998
Publisher: Vision Comics (available at Dreamweaver Press in webcomic form)
Writer: Jose Calderon
Artist: Daphne Lage
Cover: Daphne Lage, Scotty Arsenault, Eric Blumric

I reviewed #1 here, #2 here, and #3 here.

With the two parties, the rogues and the guardsmen, united, plans are made to track two groups of enemies who left the site of the battle.

The opening of this installment brings some good character development, and advances some of the political intrigue established in the previous issues of the series. Christian (AKA Andrew), the runaway prince is the focus and he gets some good bits of dialogue that bring out more of his background and personality.

Toward the end of this issue there are some action sequences that are a bit confusing in terms of who is attacking who and what exactly is going on, but the series has previously done a good job of bringing things back into focus and juggling the large number of characters in its cast.

While not everything came off as completely clear, the action scenes were intriguing enough to raise my interest in seeing how the scenario plays out.

Rating: 5.5/10

Tall Tails: Thieves' Quest #1

From the Random Stack of Unread Comics.

Title: Tall Tails: Thieves' Quest
Issue: 1
Date: July, 1998
Publisher: Vision Comics (available at Dreamweaver Press in webcomic form)
Writer: Jose Calderon
Artist: Daphne Lage

I apparently bought five issues of this, and managed to take #2 (review here) and #3 (review here) with me to Vietnam a few years ago while #1, #4, and #5 sat in the Random Stack of Unread Comics until this past summer.

This is a furry epic fantasy, with the main characters representing a whole variety of anthropomorphic animals. The action begins as a series of crises unfold in the King of Lifdell's council chamber. There is a looming border war with the trolls, and it is soon discovered that the young prince has gone missing. A search of the city is ordered, led by the competent General Cromwell.

And the trail leads right to Cromwell's roguish cousin, E.F. Ravenwood, who has found himself in something of a mess of his own.

The opening bits were on the wordy side, and there were a lot of characters to keep track of, but once things were off and running this made for the start of a fun story.

Rating: 7/10

Tall Tails: Thieves' Quest #3

 Another review live from Mumbai Airport in India! And this marks the end of that stack I was working on trying to finish. Looking forward to picking up some new comics during the month I'll be in the US, and even reviewing a couple of items I found on the newsstand here in India. But for now, here's some more furry fantasy.

Title: Tall Tails: Thieves' Quest
Issue: 3
Date: 1998
Publisher: Vision Comics (available at Dreamweaver Press in webcomic form)
Writer: Jose Calderon
Artist: Daphne Lage, Matt Lunsford

The hunters become the hunted as a force of trolls attacks the soldiers who had been in pursuit of EF Ravenwood and his rogues. When the thieves turn back to assist their would-be pursuers, the two Ravenwood cousins have a tense reunion.

The interaction between the cousins was the centerpiece of this issue, and it worked really well, providing some character development and some plot advancement in the midst of all of the mayhem of the troll battle.

This issue had better focus than the previous issue.

Rating: 7/10

Tall Tails: Thieves' Quest #2

From the pile of unread comics. I seem to recall getting this one directly from the publishers at a convention some years ago. The copy I have is signed by artist Daphne Lage.

Title: Tall Tails: Thieves' Quest
Issue: 2
Date: 1998
Publisher: Vision Comics (available at Dreamweaver Press in webcomic form)
Writer: Jose Calderon
Artist: Daphne Lage, Matt Lunsford

Furry fantasy adventure story. A band of (anthropomorphic animal) thieves fight their way our of a walled city with the city's forces in pursuit.

Meanwhile, there is trouble brewing between the leaders of the kingdom and the neighboring land of trolls. The trolls are in possession of some kind of magical seal, and a troll caravan is ambushed in an attempt to obtain it.

Things escalate from there, with the band of rogues caught in the middle.

Admittedly, it's been a really long time since I read issue #1. Long enough that I don't have a review of it on this blog. That being said, the opening action scene had a lot of parts that were confusing and difficult to follow.

Once the plot involving the trolls was introduced, the pacing settled down a bit, and the resulting developments were pretty intriguing. This comic is juggling a lot of characters, and it may take a bit of time to figure it all out, but there is a lot of potential here for some good fun swashbuckling fantasy.

Rating: 6.5/10