The Voyage: The Mercenary (Mercenary)

Rating:
Summary: There are better comics around
Review: What drew me to "The Mercenary" first was the artwork. It's one of those books that make 90s comics stand out so well. The images are painterly and generally well printed, except for the occasional problem in color registration.

Although well drawn, the figures always look static. Every pose seems balanced and stable, as if drawn from a live model. The problem is that motion, even walking, is inherently unbalanced and unstable.

The story is a series of shorter pieces put together. That comes from a fine tradition of story-telling, and can work well. The narrative never pulls the episodes together into a whole, though. For example The Mercenary leaves the end of the first chapter with a magic crystal and a canteen unwittingly filled with poisoned water. At the start of the second chapter, we discover that the crystal will never work again and that a detoxifying pill cures The Mercenary and his mount in just a few minutes.

I'm not getting rid of this one. Still, I want comics in my collection to meet a higher standard. Look this one over carefully before you buy, since there are many tastes that "The Mercenary" will not satisfy.

Rating:
Summary: There are better comics around
Review: What drew me to "The Mercenary" first was the artwork. It's one of those books that make 90s comics stand out so well. The images are painterly and generally well printed, except for the occasional problem in color registration.

Although well drawn, the figures always look static. Every pose seems balanced and stable, as if drawn from a live model. The problem is that motion, even walking, is inherently unbalanced and unstable.

The story is a series of shorter pieces put together. That comes from a fine tradition of story-telling, and can work well. The narrative never pulls the episodes together into a whole, though. For example The Mercenary leaves the end of the first chapter with a magic crystal and a canteen unwittingly filled with poisoned water. At the start of the second chapter, we discover that the crystal will never work again and that a detoxifying pill cures The Mercenary and his mount in just a few minutes.

I'm not getting rid of this one. Still, I want comics in my collection to meet a higher standard. Look this one over carefully before you buy, since there are many tastes that "The Mercenary" will not satisfy.