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Hey
Kids! Trade Paperbacks!
You have
to hand it to CrossGen. This is a company dedicated to making
it easy for you to read their comics. If you miss the monthly
books, you can get them in digest form, or on-line, or of
course, that ever handy standby, the trade paperback.
As should
be expected, they package their trades nicely. In the last
month, these are the collections that crossed our path (not
to be confused with crossing The Path):
Negation V. 1: Bohica
I remember being very excited the day Negation #1 came out.
As I read it, I thought that Crossgen had a brilliant concept
on their hands. They'd taken characters and species from many
of their other titles and placed them in the setting of a
prison. Under the guidance of Obregon Kaine, a military officer
with a secret in his past, I thought Crossgen had provided
fans with the comic book equivalent of "The Great Escape"
for a new generation. At the very least it would be a sci-fi
"Hogan's Heroes."
Imagine
how surprised I was when all the prisoners escaped in the
first issue.
Even
if my expectations didn't pan out, Negation hooked me with
top notch story telling. A rag-tag group of escaped prisoners
struggle to gain freedom while being pursued by the Negation,
the police of the Universe, and the warden of their former
prison.
BOHICA
(which is an amusing little acronym you'll come to learn along
the way) is the first volume collecting Negation #1-6 and
the prequel issue. The only downside to buying this collection
is that it is so good you'll need to buy future volumes.
Sojourn v. 2: The Dragon's Tale
Can't get enough of stories with dragons and trolls? Crossgen's
Sojourn, tells the epic tale of Arwen's quest to get revenge
against the tyrannical ruler of her world, Mordath, that is
responsible for the death of her husband and daughter. The
story is similar, albeit far simpler, to the works of Tolkein
and Terry Brooks. Along her travels, our heroine and her dog
pick up a roguish companion similar in mold to Han Solo. Their
classic fantasy adventure promises to be a long and hard fought
battle against evil and a tale of romance along the way wouldn't
surprise me.
A
Dragon's Tale is the second collection of Sojourn stories
but most of what has happened previously is thoroughly recapped.
Having already had her perfectly toned but handed to her by
Mordath, Arwen and Gareth must collect the five pieces of
the weapon that previously defeated Mordath. The first of
these pieces is rumored to be among the collected treasure
of a mythical dragon. Hence the name, A Dragon's Tale.
I highly
recommend you give Sojourn a try as it is a simple, yet enjoyable
story that I proudly purchase month after month. It's not
only entertaining but Greg Land's art is some of the best
in comics today. Several panels will leave you drooling and
I'm not just talking about the aforementioned tight butted
heroine.
Meridian v. 3: Taking the Skies
When Crossgen opened shop and began publishing, one of their
flagship titles was Meridian.
It is
initially the story of two brothers, Turos and Ilahn. Each
is the ruler of their own floating island on the planet Demetria.
However, Ilahn is evil and power hungry. He has been slowly
poisoning his brother for quite some time. When the mysterious
beings that grant powers to a chosen few in the Crossgen universe
show up to give Turos and Ilahn sigils, Turos is too weakened
by poison to survive the branding. Instead his powers are
transfer to his daughter Sephie.
Sephie
must travel to the various lands of her home world to gather
allies to stop her murdering uncle before he becomes the sole
ruler of Demetria. Add Sephie's struggle to deal with her
new found powers, her heartthrob love interest Jad who now
finds himself lower on Sephie's priority list and Sephie's
own coming of age process to the story and the result is a
multilayered adventure the whole family can enjoy. Although
Meridian quite often feels as if it is written for teen girls,
there are enough battles and fantasy elements to keep boys
(and grown men) entertained too.
Taking
the Skies details Sephie's return home and her first fight
with Ilahn. If you're interested in Meridian, you should pick
up volume #1 and #2 first. The story has progressed enough
that you'd have to read them in order.
Crux v. 2: Test of Time
Crux is the only title in the Crossgen universe line of comics
that is set on Earth, but it's not the Earth we know. The
story begins ages ago on Atlantis. The Atlanteans are a technologically
advanced people divided by philosophies. Most Atlanteans are
preparing to leave Earth in a ceremony called The Transition.
They believe this is their next evolutionary step, but a minority
of Atlanteans believe they should remain on Earth and help
Shepard the humans (hey, that's us!) as they evolve.
When
a mysterious cataclysm plunges Atlantis beneath the sea, six
- and only six - were awakened by a mysterious stranger one
thousand centuries later to find Atlantis in ruins on the
ocean floor, Earth abandoned by the humans and an army called
the Negation attacking them at every opportunity.
Test
of Time finds our handful of heroes fighting Negation
troops and searching for the humans. It isn't long before
they discover a small colony of humans living on Australia.
Do they know where the rest of the population went or is there
a greater mystery at work as the Australians seem to be preparing
for a ceremony called The Transition.
Crux
is another Crossgen title that I gladly spend my money on
each month. Like Meridian though, the series has been running
for a while now and it's complex enough that you can't just
jump right into volume #2 and figure it out. Check out volume
#1: Atlantis Rising.
Not ready
to drop your hard earned cash on Crossgen's latest trade paperbacks?
Hop on over to Crossgen.com.
For only a small monthly fee you can view their entire library
of back issues. Tell 'em Fanboyplanet.com sent you!
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