Hellcyon #1
Publisher: Dark Horse
Artist/Writer: Lucas Marangon
Minor Spoilers!
Dearest Dark Horse Comics: Why do you rock so hard this year? Surely after Devil (the best mini-series out in 2010 so far), another adventure with Solomon Kane, and those awesome Tarzan reprints, you couldn’t do anything else this year to add to your coolness factor. Happily, Dark Horse Team, you’ve proven me wrong once again, with the first issue of Hellcyon.
I knew nothing about Hellcyon before reading it, I just saw the cover and felt this Robotech/Akira meets Heavy Metal Magazine vibe and was immediately intrigued. Luckily, my instincts paid off and it was worth its weight in reading. Written and drawn by Lucas Marangon (Star Wars), Hellcyon is a new mini-series of sci-fi bliss, echoing the anime-feeling of yesteryear.
The story and art are fantastic, never letting us down for a second, and Marangon’s time working on science fiction comics pays off here. Special kudos from this reviewer to Marangon’s fantastic work on an action-packed chase sequence between giant-robots through a subway tunnel (I loved it so much, I wish the sequence never ended, it just rocked). On the writing side of things, Marangon gives us plenty of set-up and back story before striking in with all the action so we fully understand the situation. Aside from the main character Nika, the others are not in full bloom yet by the end of the first issue; but being that it’s a mini-series and this is the start, it’s only a piece of the puzzle, which I forsee based off this issue, will come into full fruition by the end of the series.
Hellcyon tells the story of space-colony Halcyon, which declares itself an independent nation. The reaction to this is far from good, and a war is on the verge of breaking out. Our main character, Nika, is returning to Halcyon from living on Earth for a few years, to find himself suddenly thrown into the middle of all this. Just as he arrives at his destination, the oppressors step in with particle-beams and giant robots, and the battle begins!
Now to conclude with this final thought: when you run out to the stands today, if you enjoy the sci-fi/space opera side of comics, put down some money on the first issue of this mini. You won’t regret it.
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Drew McCabe
drew@comicattack.net
The art looks freakin’ awesome!!
The art is awesome, and as mentioned this chase scene: oh man. Just visually a great piece in itself
Good review Drew. Always nice to see something under the radar get some airtime!
Didn’t even know about Marangon’s new project until I was at my LCS today. The bangin’ cover and the words Lucas Marangon said it all: “Buy Me!” The book really reminded me of the old days of Viz Comics and Studio Proteus when I first read US-translated manga. “Hellcyon” has a Appleseed/Bubblegum Crisis feel to it. I didn’t know it was a mini, though it was an ongoing. Only real gripe I have is the whole “Che Gueverra is Cool Chic” thing. Th’as like having an Adolf Hitler on that t-shirt. I totally understand the “rebel underground milita guerrilla” thing, but Che was a mass-murderering govt crony for the Fidel Castro regime. And, to add inuslt to injury, he died as a low-life begging coward when he was captured by the Bolivians and CIA. Che may be a “hero” to places like Communist-hugging UCLA Berkeley, but to many Cuban-Americans he was a mass murderer and Fidel Castros “Useful Idiot”. I worked with a few Cuban Americans and obviously they all despise Che and Fidel. Commies Aren’t Cool.