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THE PATH PREQUEL
Recommended (8/10)
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Crossgen Comics
Writer: Ron Marz
Pencils: Bart Sears
Inks: Mark Pennington
Colors: Michael Atiyeh
Letters: Dave Lanphear
Price: $2.95 US |
I haven't reviewed Crossgen's comics since the very early days of the company, but their newest announcements have me intrigued, and The Path is the first of this new wave of titles that has really caught my eye. The prequel offers up a lot of what I've come to expect from Crossgen, both good and bad, with fantastic artwork, a compelling idea, leisurely pacing and the presence of that damn sigil. However, in general I was pretty impressed with The Path, and it seems a more new-reader friendly version of the samurai epic than I've been able to find in manga. I'm not sure if The Path will keep my interest any longer than
the other Crossgen books did at first, but it certainly grabbed it off the bat
with this prequel.
Bart Sears is a name that used to draw my attention, particularly with his work at Valiant, but who has altered his style to a point where I generally don't enjoy it anymore. With The Path, his work reminds me why I was once such a fan of his style, as the work here is flat-out gorgeous. The feeling that Marz's script aims for is one of epic fantasy with a touch of foreign flavor, and Sears (along with Pennington and Atiyeh) captures that beautifully. The book is laid out in a lot of splash pages, with text along the borders, reminiscent of Frank Miller's 300, and it gives a sense of scope and
immense power to the artwork.
The story is one of grandeur
and mystery, and the prequel is clearly meant largely to deliver on background
and to whet the appetite for the series. It definitely works in this regard, as
Marz does a very good job of introducing the various cast members, both heroic
and villainous, even as Sears gives them life in his artwork. I'm particularly
drawn to the idea of a holy man who has taken up arms against the gods, and
though the notion of an unlikely warrior becoming a hero is a cliche at this
point, it's a good base for any story to start with.
I'm not such a fan of the
elements of Crossgen continuity that show up in the book, as they have in every
other Crossgen book. The First and their sigils of power have seemed intrusive
to me in every book, and the appearance of both in this issue immediately caused
a negative reaction from me. However, so far Marz seems to be playing these
elements reasonably quiet. The First serves as the mystical advisor to the
villain, a role suited to this genre, and the sigil serves as a mark of the gods
and a reason for the holy weapon, also standard elements of this genre. If these
unnecessary shared universe elements can remain in the background, subtle and
easily ignored, I will probably enjoy The Path a great deal more.
There's also a promise here, as there is in Crossgen's Sojourn, of an eventual ending to the book. There is a definite goal and quest to the story, an arc suggested, which has me believing we'll see a beginning, middle and end to the story. As long as the story doesn't play out over too long a time with little development in each issue (a common failing of the Crossgen books I have read) and as long as the series is allowed to end when it is time, I think The Path could be the first Crossgen book that truly
draws me in.
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