Primordia #1 (of 3)
John R. Fultz & Roel Wielinga
With all of the great stuff coming from Archaia Studios Press, I was bound to hit a bad one eventually. Not that Primordia was all bad - there just wasn't much interesting about it. The debut issue of the mini-series from John R. Fultz and Roel Wielinga introduces readers to a woodland occupied by fairies and demons alike, and ruled by the Woodking. It reads like a myth from out of Ovid's Metamorphosis, beginning with two frolicking satyrs who stumble upon two human babies about to be consumed by the giant snake Zatha. The female satyr saves the children while the jealous male watches her rear them with permission from the Woodking. As the two human children grow up, one alert and lively during the day, and one during the night, the two are drawn to different sorts of creatures and powers, and ultimately fall for the same woman and bring about destruction that the Woodking can not abide. I'm not sure if this entire issue was just set-up for something really great to come, but I was bored by the events, underwhelmed by the art and by the concluding panel, I just didn't care what happened. With next to nothing in terms of characterization and a story that sped by way too fast with too little to sustain interest, the parting scene wasn't earned and left little emotional resonance. There are some interesting ideas in there, but nothing to save the book from mediocrity in the end. C-
With all of the great stuff coming from Archaia Studios Press, I was bound to hit a bad one eventually. Not that Primordia was all bad - there just wasn't much interesting about it. The debut issue of the mini-series from John R. Fultz and Roel Wielinga introduces readers to a woodland occupied by fairies and demons alike, and ruled by the Woodking. It reads like a myth from out of Ovid's Metamorphosis, beginning with two frolicking satyrs who stumble upon two human babies about to be consumed by the giant snake Zatha. The female satyr saves the children while the jealous male watches her rear them with permission from the Woodking. As the two human children grow up, one alert and lively during the day, and one during the night, the two are drawn to different sorts of creatures and powers, and ultimately fall for the same woman and bring about destruction that the Woodking can not abide. I'm not sure if this entire issue was just set-up for something really great to come, but I was bored by the events, underwhelmed by the art and by the concluding panel, I just didn't care what happened. With next to nothing in terms of characterization and a story that sped by way too fast with too little to sustain interest, the parting scene wasn't earned and left little emotional resonance. There are some interesting ideas in there, but nothing to save the book from mediocrity in the end. C-
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