The story of a King Valen Brand is quite interesting as the 2nd season of The Walking Dead begins to suffer in story. A valiant king who was adored both as a great king and mighty warrior was killed in battle by a Necromancer…okay stop there. (Reading this story, I had to literally stop and look this up) What the heck is a Necromancer? The book didn’t even offer a side photo to give me an idea of what this Necromancer is. Thanks to Google, i discovered it’s someone who practices dark arts and collects souls. Already 3 pages in and I’ve left the book to get some insight.
Valen #1 was, obviously, a struggle for me to read. Not even the woman with the tattoos on her widely exposed cleavage could keep my focus long enough to not get frustrated in the beginning. There were too many unexplained portions in the first half of the book for me to get a grip on the plot. We’ll get to that in a moment.
Let’s get back to this Necromancer. I couldn’t get over how similar this guy looks to The Lich King from World of Warcraft. The blue eyes, the crown, the dark face…Check this out:
World of Warcraft: The Lich King
Valen: The Necromancer
Now, 15 minutes later from when I cracked open the issue, back to the story…
King Valen is on a quest to find the Necromancer who took his soul and made him a walking dead man. Thankfully, he doesn’t look like a zombie. I must say I wish The Walking Dead did have this sort of twist of a zombie who wants his soul back…
Valen The Outcast – Issue 1 is about his initial quest, recruiting a guide and facing his first challenge being recognized as ‘the dead king.’ If it weren’t for the amazing art of Matteo Scalera, my interest to read Outcast issue 2 would be hard to find. The introduction needed some help and it was too hard to connect the dots. Let’s hope issue 2 picks up the pace a bit and gives more explanation through imagery.
Review book courtesy of Boom! Studios
As I have not read the comic in question, I have absolutely no idea if this comic is good or not. However, if your sole complaint is that it didn’t explain what a necromancer is, then you’re probably not anywhere near the comic’s target audience.