Legendary (Spark Unlimited – Waid / Montiel)
Legendary tells the story of Charles Deckard, an art thief who is duped into stealing Pandora’s Box. When he inadvertently opens it, he releases hordes of beasts thought to be fictional – such as werewolves and griffons – into an unprepared modern world. A full-scale war between man and myth begins, and it is quickly complicated by the actions of powerful secret societies. As the person responsible for releasing this terror, Deckard’s unwittingly becomes the only person capable of containing it once more and saving civilization from being destroyed by the terrifying creatures of legend. Written by Mark Waid, this original graphic novel, based on the Legendary video game by Spark Unlimited, Inc. and penciled by Martin Montiel, is a thrill-ride of mythical proportions. Featuring an original 96-page story as well as extras from the game and the Legendary universe, comic fans and gamers of all kinds will not be able to put it down!
I got the preview copy in this month’s Wizard magazine. Never been a fan of comics based on video games (or made to support the game), but with this being Mark Waid I read it with an open mind.
What this was was about a 12 page preview for the game coming this fall. What struck me as I was reading it, is that I would be much more positive about if I knew it wasn’t just a game promotion. So, that’s what I did, re-read it with the idea that it is a graphic novel coming out (96 page story $14.99). Putting it in that lens, it didn’t seem too bad.
A master thief, modern-day MacGyver if you will who takes an ordinary looking job, to steal a certain antique out of the a museum. As it turns out, it’s Pandora’s box and he unleashes evil mythological creatures upon the city and the world. Oooops, his bad.
As far as this preview went, it seemed like a straight forward high-paced action story. Mark Waid is writing the story based on the video game plot by Chruch / Skelton. So, the fact this is not Mark Waid original material does seem like a major bump. The art is by Martin Montiel (Top Cow) and is pretty solid. It’s interesting I just saw this free preview on e-bay for $7.50 plus S&H, crazy.
This looks good for what it is, Whether or not it’s worth $15 for 100 pages or so will be yet to be seen.
Preview Grade: B
