Review: Valen The Outcast #2

There was one scene that I absolutely loved in this issue;it was pretty damn cool and very clever. The first issue of this series wasgood and definitely worth the dollar price tag attached to it. The second issueis also very good and worth the full price of admission this time around so don’tlet that deter you from picking it up; especially if you enjoyed the mixture ofwar, magic and the undead!

The story opens with some foreshadowing of events in whichone of Korrus Null’s lackeys checks in with him. He’s hot on Valen’s ass, butin case he fails they have a back-up. Valen and his grab bag of people arriveat a bridge that is being heavily protected on the other side. Valen’s choiceis to storm the bridge or travel a week around it. He chooses to storm it andis met with archer’s arrows which nearly take his heart out. He’s undead, butif you strike his heart then he’s done for good. This bad fortune results inthe three of them ending up captured by Flemmyng, a stubby man with an army ofhis own trying to cross the bridge.

Zjanna is taken to Flemmyng’s personal chambers while Valenand Cordovan are left to lead a small band of villagers to use to cross the bridge. This is the result of a deal that Valen and Flemmyng made, but Valen knows it’s going to end with one ofthem double-crossing the other. At this point the coolest part of the bookhappens as Cordovan uses all of his money to bribe a blacksmith intomaking a protective casing for Valen’s heart. Then Cordovan carves open Valen’schest and installs the sucker. It was pretty awesome.

There was one part of the story that I didn’t care for, butit’s the cliffhanger of the book so I’ll leave it there. I’m sure that theresults will be pretty typical which in the context of the story is okay, butnot the most original idea. The world and concept are so lush that I reallyhoped that the overall plot would be better, but it seems that Michael AlanNelson always falls into the most obvious pitfalls of storytelling. He’s adecent writer, but if there is an obvious choice to make he takes it and itleaves very little in the way of surprises for the reader. Even still I enjoyedwhat the book had to offer and really my only grip is that sometimes I have noidea what a character’s name is. For instance I had to reread the book in orderto find Cordovan’s name for the review. Otherwise he’s just the blue coat guyto me.

The art is very good and frankly does a lot of the work inmaking this issue good. Matteo Scalera is a very solid artist, but brings flairof passion to his work. I really enjoy the action sequences that he draws asthey give the book a sense of motion and excitement. You want Valen to crushhis enemies and that’s really what this Conan-escbook should be doing. The only thing Matteo struggles with is the character ofZjanna. She’s very inconsistent throughout the issue as it stands out from therest of the panels.

I’m enjoying this book and I’m still looking forward to thenext issues. My hope is that Nelson has some surprises in store for the readerdown the road. In these early issues its okay to set the stage and have some ofthe “usual”, but that’s not going to cut it with future issues. If you’relooking for a good hack and slash sword book though this is the one grab.

Score: 3/5

Writer: Michael Alan Nelson

Art: Matteo Scalera

Publisher: Boom! Studios

Price: $3.99

Release Date: 1/4/2012