I love comics anthology books. This particular form is, all too often, neglected. What could be better than getting different stories by different creators all under one convenient cover? As a reader, you get to experience work from a range of writers and artists and you have an excellent opportunity to find out about stuff you didn't even know you liked. This is essentially the way the pulp magazines, the forebearers of modern comics, worked, and that's why the anthology format is the perfect form for the awesome stories waiting to be discovered in Savage Tales #1.
Dynamite Entertainment's Savage Tales comes out of the gate strong, with an excellent starting line-up of stories and creators. There are four ongoing stories in this first issue, and each one offers readers something different.
First up is The Witch's Familiar, starring cover she-devil Red Sonja. (By the way, all of the variant covers are nice, but the Arthur Suydam version is worth the cover price all by itself.) It's certainly a good idea to start off with Dynamite's most recognizable character, and Sonja is in fine form here. Part one of this tale, by Ron Mars and Adriano Batista, has gorgeous art, a very clever opening scene, a bit of sword-wielding action, and a cliff-hanger that will leave you counting the days until the next issue.
Battle for Atlantis, by Leah Moore, John Reppion, and Pablos Marcos sets the stage for a somewhat different take on the question, "Why did Atlantis fall?" The art is lush and detailed. The blend of primitivism with Atlantean super-science is very "pulpy." Maybe it's just me, but the inflated pride and corrupt politics of the Atlanteans may also be a sly commentary on current world affairs.
A Red Sonja spin-off, Where Walks the Hunter by Lieberman, Oeming and Sharpe, is the third offering in this issue. This story follows a brutal warrior, the Hunter, who is an enemy of both Sonja and her mortal foe Kulan Gath. This character first appeared in Red Sonja's ongoing title, but everything you need to know about him is filled in quickly in this story. Seeing his encounters with Sonja from the "villain's" point of view gives this story a neat twist.
Finally, we have The Elder Things that Fell to Earth by Mike Raicht and Pere Perez. Keeping the pulpy theme going, this story has elements of both Robert E. Howard and H.P. Lovecraft, doing justice to both creators. A group of warriors (Out hunting dinosaur monsters!) run into a weird space vessel. The ship's pilots are a powerful race of aliens looking for help reigning in the escaped power of the evil Lovecraftian deity Cthulhu. Of course, Cthulhu has some recruits of his own and is not going gently back into his cage...
For fans of good, old-fashioned, sword swinging, monster battling adventure, Savage Tales #1 is a wicked tome full of fun! You may pick this up just to check out Red Sonja, but all of these stories feature great art and pulp-tacular adventure. You have nothing to fear (except maybe Cthulhu), because this book is guaranteed awesome this week at Four Color Fantasies!
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