Publisher: Image Comics
Writer: Kel Symons
Artist: Nate Stockman
Release Date: 21st January, 2014

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Welcome to the “Land of Fate,” a place once filled with light, now suffering through a thousand years of darkness and cold. The Great Cataclysm caused the disappearance of “The Wardens,” followers of the light that once protected the Land of Fate. Reyn seems to be the last living Warden, doing what he can to purge the evil from the Land of Fate again.

His journey takes him into the city of Ledwain where he comes across Seph, a member of “The Followers of Tek” – mystics with the ability to harness magical powers who have been branded by the world as heretics. Along the way we are introduced to what appear to be lizard men who are disturbed by the resurgence of a Warden, a group they previously thought to have wiped out.

Kel Symons does a great job of setting up all the major players in this first issue. Not always an easy task to accomplish, as you want to give away enough information to draw people in while also keeping a few cards up your sleeve for later. In this issue we are introduced to Reyn and Seph and already know they are the heroes of the story. Symons gives us just the briefest of glimpses at their first ‘enemy’, but this glimpse is more than enough to keep us hanging on and wondering what will happen next.

We’re also given a little bit of the history of the Land of Fate and how it got to be the way it is now, giving an added emphasis to Reyn and Seph’s quest to return the Land to its once great light. .

Nate Stockman done a good job with the visual storytelling for this series so far. While the artwork didn’t stand out as anything groundbreaking, necessarily, it still tells the story well. Instead of focusing on large landscapes and lush environments, the scenes were kept to a smaller scale, allowing more focus and attention to be put on the characters themselves. Nothing is overly detailed, but all the characters are individually definable.

As an opening issue for a new series I found this to be very well done. The setup and character back-stories are already starting and all the major players have been introduced – or at least what we may think are all the major players. I have no doubt in my mind that more villains will show themselves in the issues to come, but for now my interest has certainly been piqued. I’m definitely on board to see where Reyn goes from here and what develops between him and Seph and whomever else they may recruit or meet along the way.

Rating: 3/5.

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The writer of this piece was: Shane Hoffman (aka “Hoff”)
You can also find Hoff on Twitter.

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