Dragon’s Bane #1 is a comic written by Tristan Vick with art by Ariel Medel and colors by Saul Shavanas. A newly-formed trio is tasked with hunting down a group of murderous orcs. This is a supernatural high fantasy comic with heavy gory violence, unique magic, and a somewhat unsettling tone. The leading lady here is Dragana Perun, she is a warrior who makes a living as a bounty hunter. Assisting her are the knight-turned-berserker Damek Volos and his squire Raivis. This story begins with Raivis showing Draguna the bloody carnage left in the wake of these attacks by an orc. She agrees to assist them but says they’ll need some help, Raivis leads her to Damek who is currently sleeping in a pig pen. This takes place in a fantasy world with magic, the expected races, and classic “jobs”. The violence here is very bloody with heavy gore. This moves at a faster than average pace with adventurous tone that feels like the beginning of something much bigger. There isn’t much drama here and the majority of the intensity shown is violent. The dialogue here is spoken in a medieval-like style and it is all conversational. There aren’t any word-heavy pages here. This is an entertaining debut issue that pairs unique and intriguing characters with strong, fantastical violence in a story that will keep you locked in.

            The art here is drawn in a smoothly detailed modern style along with what looks like dithering; this also has realistic lighting and shading. The color palette is mostly brown and green with the more unique shades coming from the characters and their outfits. Most of this story takes place outdoors with over half of it being in a lush forest. The other half of this tale is set in a small village specifically around and in the Northbend Tavern & Inn. Backgrounds here usually show the actual surroundings with some blurriness. The expression level here is above-average as most of these characters have strong and animated reactions. Shock, fear, and happiness from self-confidence and sinister motivations are the main emotions we’ll see. Faces here have a higher amount of detail from the eyes to the teeth with the different looks usually coming across clearly. Arrows, blades, and magic are the main weapons used here. There are a number of gruesome attacks here that lead to large amounts of blood and viscera. Action scenes tend to move smoothly with a number different angles and unique panel breakup. All of the women here look like large-breasted models and they are wearing tight and/or revealing clothing. Damek looks like a bodybuilder and he is shirtless the entire time.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes, if this is up your alley.

“Would I like this?”

If you like supernatural high fantasy stories that star a lady bounty hunter and two guys and features heavy gory violence and a somewhat grim tone then this is for you.

“What would this comic’s film rating be?”

R. Violence, blood, gore, gruesomeness, lewdness.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“That shouldn’t be a problem, should it?”

 

Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/regolith-comics/dragons-bane-fantasy-comic/description

***IN-DEPTH COMIC STATS BELOW***

Probably Contains Spoilers

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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 32

Violent Pages: 12, for 38% of the comic

Sexy Pages: 1, for 3% of the comic

 

**The levels below aren’t necessarily maintained throughout the whole comic, but they were definitely reached**

 

Violence Level – 3

“Wasn’t no tussling at all.”

“Sometimes you gotta hit somebody.”

“I’m getting charged with how many counts of assault?”

“This was a tournament arc.”

“All my life I had to fight.”

 

Gore Level – 5

“The only thing leaking out your face is tears.”

“Looks like somebody spilled some ketchup.”

“Might need to soak that up with a bath towel.”

“That isn’t supposed to be outside the body.”

“This is a slaughterhouse.”

 

Death Level – 3

“And everybody lived happily ever after.”

“We might have gone to a couple funerals.”

“It just LOOKS like a serial killer was here.”

“Yeah this was a tragedy.”

“Think Gettysburg.”

 

Porn Level – 1

“Everybody kept their clothes on.”

“I guess it was too hot for a bra.”

“Sometimes you got to let everything air out.”

“This is like late night Cinemax in the early 2000’s.”

“Oh. This is porn.”