Samurai Elf Vol. 2 :Bull’s Eye (Iberian Press – Guerra / Dias)
Ardan and Keegan reach Castel, but tempers flare as they fight their way through low life thugs, a black market pirate, two bounty-hunting dwarves, and the Horde’s most vicious death machines, The Hunters. The Horde marches the planet towards a horrific future as their enigmatic mastermind is poised to unleash his cybernetic army. They’ll stop at nothing to capture Ardan, if only he knew why. The walls are slowly closing in as Ardan finds himself in the Bull’s Eye.
Coming out in November is the second volume based in the richly developed setting of Samurai Elf. Miguel Guerra and Suzy Dias create a world that is part LOTR fantasy, part science fantasy (think Dolph and the Masters of the Universe), part anime-feel (who doesn’t want to carry a sword that is as long and as wide as your body) with a dash of modernized details to keep it familiar to the non-fantasy fan . The amalgamation is something recognizable but enjoyable (dark-skinned elven hotties with hoop earing and Afros here we come!)
The details and history of their world in very in-depth, they obviously spent quite a deal of time putting this together and have not just thrown details in a pot with some action and hope they mesh. The character development and plot lines are all very classic, it’s sort of like reading a collection of old Prince valiant strips in that aspect, you know where it’s going but the fun is in the journey.
There have been some major growth since the first volume of this series, in particular in the area of the art. Improved page layouts, a more constant penciling style and colorization all add to much larger charm factor for the second volume of Samurai Elf.
Grade: B- (lost points for me on the price, while it’s a very solid and long read, $25.99 is a heavy price tag)
