I remember hearing more than a little buzz around Iron Empires when it first came out, but I missed out on it then. Since that time, I've gained a great deal of respect for Christopher Moeller as the cover artist of Lucifer, among other things, and I'm glad that Dark Horse provided me with a second chance to check out his painted science-fiction epic. The book reminds me of any number of great science-fiction tales, from Dune to Aliens to Starship Troopers, with a dash of European style thrown in for flavor. Moeller's story is one of political and religious factions moving against one another, with an undercurrent of alien invasion, but he tells it through the eyes of some fascinating characters so that we can latch onto the larger story. And the artwork is gorgeous, painted in a style that really brings the setting and the characters to life without becoming stiff or lacking in any way in terms of storytelling.
Moeller opens his story with a scene that is fairly small and personal, that of a crew of space marines (essentially) being deployed to their new station, a world on the edge of the galaxy that is basically a crap assignment. It's the kind of thing that's been done before, but it's absolutely crucial to this genre, and Moeller pulls it off well, selling the genially hard-assed sergeant of the group, the snarky tough guy banter between the team and the "down with the troops" sensibility of Trevor Faith in just a few pages. We know right then that we're right in the middle of military science-fiction, and that we're in good hands. Moeller is a beautiful visual artist, but he's also skilled with the word pictures, doling out inner monologue like "I'm the church's bastard son, half warrior, half priest, a soul born to darkness" so that it informs the setting but not with such frequency that it becomes a flood of flowery speech. Faith's narrative captions mark him as a thinker as much as his actions brand him a warrior.
In addition to knowing how to set the scene, Moeller knows what to do with this backdrop. Each issue of Faith Conquers features a memorable setpiece, from the street fight in issue two to the infiltration in issue three to the spectacular culminating battle in issue four. Iron Empires is military science-fiction, and Moeller delivers a fantastic big battle to close out the first story arc, but he's not limited to simply the battle side of things, as he shows us the gathering of intelligence, a touch of conspiracy and politics, all the things that are really the underpinnings of the war genre. There's a mystery running through this story about the worms and what they're up to that culminates nicely in the final issue.
On occasion, the chaos of battle, or the intricacies of the political machinations, could use a little more clarity than they're given. For all that the Church of the Transition are the big baddies of the piece, they really don't get a ton of development, and although Moeller does a great job introducing the Grey Rats at the beginning, they sort of disappear in the middle of the story only to reappear at the end, resulting in a little bit of disconnect. Still, these are minor complaints, and the story in general is pretty easy to follow and very engaging.
Then there's the artwork, which is, no kidding, half the reason to pick up Iron Empires in the first place. Moeller's painted work is phenomenal, full of believable and distinctive characters and an imaginative setting, complete with some of the coolest sci-fi vehicles and war technology this side of Heavy Metal. What's impressive isn't just the sheer beauty of the work, but that Moeller's storytelling is exceptional as well. His characters show a wide range of emotion, his realistic battleships look like they're really taking hits and firing blasts, and his fight scenes really look like they're moving. There's also an especially clever sequence in the final issue where we see the battle as a sort of strategic diagram superimposed on the actions of the characters, a great way to make tactical maneuvers more clear in terms of the story.
Faith Conquers closes out with a reprinted Dark Horse Presents story of a soldier finding his conscience to disobey orders. The story itself is pretty good, again along familiar military science-fiction lines, but the artwork is pencilled by Moeller and newly colored by Michael Kelleher rather than painted. The results are far too dark, and I was wishing for Dark Horse's go-to colorist Dave Stewart, but the general look reminds me of someone like Mignola, and that's no bad thing. The short story at the end of the trade doesn't really match up to the strength of the rest of the story, but it's a nice bonus extra, and the rest of the trade represents military science-fiction comics at their finest, with some of the most beautiful painted art to be found in any comics.
