Home Columns Wednesday Comics Wednesday Comics Reviews: New immortal heroine rises in SOUL TAKER #1

Wednesday Comics Reviews: New immortal heroine rises in SOUL TAKER #1

Plus, the return of Chip Zdarsk's Public Domain, and more!

07/03/2024 11:30 am

This week’s main review is the new Mad Cave Studios book, Soul Taker #1. Plus, the Wednesday Comics Team has its usual rundown of the new #1s, finales and other notable issues from non-Big 2 publishers, all of which you can find below … enjoy!

Soul Taker #1

Writers: Tom Sniegoski and Jeannine Acheson
Art: Valeria Burzo
Colors: Emilio Lecce
Letters: Jim Campbell
Publisher: Mad Cave Studios

Review by Clyde Hall

We’re in an age of more Geri-action heroes than usual, and it’s good seeing that not all those tough and grizzled old warriors are guys. And while surface comparisons could be made between Soul Taker and The Old Guard, it’s even better seeing that not every immortal female leads a team of deathless mercenaries into the modern era. In fact, as presented in this limited series debut, some age extremely gracefully and settle for a routine existence in a Florida residential living center.

The choice may not have been voluntary for Amara, however. She’s an immortal being, the last of her kind due in part to a purge led over centuries by an order of zealot knights called the Venatori. These days Amara, a being who feeds on the life energy of humans, once predator of apex predators, is no longer hunted. But that requires a degree of domestication and adaptation to an adrenalin-free, everyday existence. Luckily, she has a friend in fellow residential center tenant Rosalie and her doggo, Edward. Her neighbor knows nothing of Amara’s true nature, but this human contact allows a sense of normalcy and a low profile.

A profile helped by standing financial arrangements Amara’s formed with a shadowy benefactor who requires a sample of her blood and hair every few years. Delivered via dead drop, the exchange ends with Amara receiving a waiting case of money. Our protagonist knows this is serving the needs of some clinical group, researchers or scientists perhaps, but the anonymity of it has worked for a time and in places across the globe. It’s a small price to pay for not being hunted.

Until it isn’t. In the first issue, interested parties including her benefactor converge and attempt detaining Amara. She slips back into old habits proving that being hunted doesn’t make her anyone’s prey. The interest of one hunting party, though, piques that of another. In issues to come, Amara must deal with both.

The writing team of Tom Sniegoski and Jeannine Acheson does a proper job making Amara’s life placid yet interesting. At a steady pace, they seed the storyline using small insights from the character and by exploring the mysteries of her mentioned arrangement. When the action begins, they approach it with a similar sense of insight and calm.

Strong scripting from Sniegoski and Acheson establish Amara well and wind us into her narrative very firmly. It’s hard imagining our eternal hero’s pulse quicken while she outmaneuvers and incapacitates those attempting her capture. It’s plainly not a new experience, and she’s not out of practice. She also shows remarkable restraint in how she deals with the situation and with her would-be captors, all of which adds to our appreciation.

The Valeria Burzo art at first seemed too sedate. But it adds to that ‘everyday’ sort of life Amara’s carved out and conveys the low-key sense of action as conflicts arise. We’ll see if that approach works when Amara faces off against more violent and experienced opponents representing the Big Bads. For now, it works setting the chess board for a singular immortal facing stony-hearted forces of faith and pharma.

As a premiere, this issue borrows many elements of previous tales regarding immortal heroes, from Casca the Eternal Mercenary to Highlander. Those have also concentrated on religious organizations and medical concerns making eternal life challenging for their main characters. In Soul Taker #1, though, Amara is so well-defined we come away hoping that, if immortals did exist and there could indeed “be only one”, she’d be that one.

Verdict: BUY

Free Agents #1

Writers: Kurt Busiek and Fabian Nicieza
Artist: Stephen Mooney
Colorist: Triona Tree Farrell
Letterer: Richard Starkings and Comicraft’s Tyler Smith

Review by Jordan Jennings

Synopsis: Following their great victory over The Argive and their forces, Breakpoint 10 finds themselves stranded on our Earth. As the team struggles to adjust to civilian life in a strange land, they are called back into action against the remnants of the Argive. After the brief skirmish and case of mistaken identity by press as the Free Agents, Breakpoint 10 are stuck wondering if the battle truly ends.

Free Agents #1 is the latest comic in the recent wave of Image Comic superhero titles. Unlike the Local Man and Blood Squad Seven, Free Agents doesn’t dwell in the Image of the past, but instead is a comic with the flavor of a 90’s superhero image title that feels modern in its structure and pacing. Kurt Busiek and Fabian Nicieza are more than qualified to deliver 90’s superhero comics given their long and storied comics work. If anyone has a right to do a 90’s continuity throwback, it would be these two writers. Yet, it is refreshing for them to deliver a 90’s-tinged sci-fi superhero comic that doesn’t get so preoccupied with either retconning a hero into Image’s past or plugging a hole in continuity.

The story in Free Agents #1 does a wonderful job with introducing the cast of characters to the reader. The focus of the issue being less on their backstory and more about their night on the town is an inspired decision because not only it gives us a glimpse of the characters in small group settings, but it shows how the characters are adjusting to a life of civility. Throughout the book it is established that Breakpoint 10 was formed for this war against the Argive but it wasn’t done willingly. There’s conflict within the team as they try to determine what should be their next course of action—To continue to fight on or relax? That slice of life section of the book is simple but amazing comic shorthand to get the stakes across to the reader.

The character work is solid as well, which is expected with Busiek and Nicieza at the helm. Both have a knack at dialog and character pieces, and this is no different. Given the size of the cast and what all is done in this issue no single character gets more than a small treatment, but you come away from the book understanding most of the characters wants and needs. Future issues hold a lot of promise.

The artwork by Stephen Mooney is fitting of the book. It fits in with the Wildstorm/Top Cow Sci-fi feel of the story and it looks great doing it. Mooney, along with Busiek and Nicieza, uses multiple double-page spreads that helps showcase the scale and scope of the action throughout the book. It is fantastic looking book all while showing off Mooney’s talent. Mooney’s art is complimented by Triona Tree Farrell’s colors. Farrel sets the tone of many scenes such as the purple glow in the nightclub, using earthtones when the two geological related heroes are talking to each other and the surreal coloration during the flashback origin sequence.

While I found this book to be really entertaining and enjoyable there are some shortcomings. The book is written with a bit of technobabble that took me a couple of minutes to get invested in the book. I am fine with full immersion in comics, but it was so much being laid out on the onset. It isn’t a steep barrier to entry, but it was enough to throw me off momentarily. Beyond that the character designs by Mooney have issues with several characters being indistinct from each other. There is something about having a uniform team design that is a welcomed sight, but there are couple pages where I had to flip back and forth to make sure who a couple characters were. While the team is racially diverse, there is a lack of body diversity that leads to a lack of identifiable silhouettes. Characters do have distinct personalities and powersets, just wish there was some visual distinction.

Overall, I really enjoyed Free Agents #1. You’d be forgiven for thinking this comic was another Blood Squad Seven style book. Instead it isn’t fueled by a nostalgic desire to fix the past or treat it as a joke, but instead Free Agents feels like a modern take on 90’s comics. It isn’t perfect but it is an excellent mix of 90’s-tinged sci-fi and superheroes for modern audiences Finally, while I don’t usually discuss the price of comics, it should be noted that Free Agents #1 ships with 48-pages but at an affordable price of $3.99 US. In an age where 20-pages regularly costs $4.99, you won’t find a better deal.

Check it out.

Public Domain #6

Creator: Chip Zdarsky
Art Assists: Rachael Stott
Publisher: Image Comics

Review by Tim Rooney

The first volume of Chip Zdarsky’s Public Domain leaned on the drama of creator rights to tell a story about the anxieties of creation and the exploitation of artists in the comics industry. Issue 6, the first of the book’s second volume, pivots slightly to focus more directly on character and family drama, and the anxieties of aging and relevancy.

With The Domain, the superhero character created by Syd Dallas, back under his ownership, Dallas now has the chance to tell new stories with his character–and to do it with his sons. It’s an opportunity to build something alongside them after giving up so much of his time in their youth to the character he did not own. Tensions arise as the boys, Miles and David, and their new partner who used to work for the publisher who owned the Domain, all have different ideas about how to tell stories that honor the past but are relevant for the present day.

The metacommentary about superhero publishing continues, as the cast argues over competing ideas of what superhero stories should be like in the 21st century. But all of these clashes serve the larger thematic questions Zdarsky is exploring about family and the experience of art and creation. The script is as full of funny dialogue and genuine humanity as any of Chip Zdarsky’s work.

While he might not be the greatest draftsman in comics, Zdarsky’s layouts and visual pacing is superb. The pages are put together perfectly to land the dramatic moments with the visual weight required, and no one is better at timing the silent reactions to a gag. This is still mostly a solo project,but joining in on the fun to do the actual art for the Dallas’s new Domain comic is Rachael Stott (who will also be doing the art for a real comic series based on the fake comic series). It adds a nice distinction between the art and the artists.

In Public Domain’s transitions from a focus on creators’ rights to the frustrations of creation itself, the story has not lost a beat. It remains as compelling and as funny as it was in its first volume.