War Bound #1, available on Kickstarter now, is the start of a new hero (or is he an anti-hero?) destined to walk the Earth eternally in search of an evil sorcerer. When his latest exploits land him in an asylum for superpowered individuals, Warbound must convince a doctor of his origins or stay locked up forever.
The Details
- Written By: Marcel Dupree, Guido Martinez
- Art By: Gaurav Shrivastava
- Colors By: Fahriza Kamaputra
- Letters By: Guido Martinez
- Cover Art By: Gaurav Shrivastava
- Cover Price: $5 minimum on Kickstarter
- Release Date: Funded on February 9, 2021
Was It Good?
Yes, it was decent.
When a creative team puts out a new character in a completely new world starting from scratch, you have a choice — either spend the issue developing the characters, spend the issue punching the reader in the gut with a very strong, central conflict, or both. This issue squarely falls into the category of building out the main character through dialog and exposition. Therefore, this first issue doesn’t quite grab you with big wow moments, but you learn a lot and are fully immersed in Warbound’s world as a setup to the next issue.
The art is very good, very high-quality. Shrivastava pays particular attention to face work to help the characters emote through the dialog. One panel (see below) catches the eye and says so many things about the point in the conversation where it occurs without the need to fill up several word balloons. There’s a lot of great acting from the art team here.
What’s It About?
[SPOILERS AHEAD]
We begin with Dr. Kendra Jones entering Barrenwoods Asylum, a facility designed to house superpowered individuals. Dr. Jones enters an interview room to see Warbound, a court-ordered guest. She’s here to assess whether or not Warbound is a danger to himself or others.
In this world of superpowered individuals, some rules apply, and Warbound has stepped over the kill line enough to warrant concern by other supers. Dr. Jones reads a litany of reports from other supers that generally point to Warbound’s approach to criminals as brutal, violent, and over-the-top.
Warbound is un-phased by the opinions of others as he has a very singular purpose in this world, to kill the immortal sorcerer responsible for wiping out his village over five centuries ago. And any criminal that has information leading him to the sorcerer or aiding the sorcerer in any way is fair game.
So far, there’s a lot of talking, but it doesn’t come across as overly wordy or slow. There’s a strong indication the letterer and artist did their very best to not let the dialog overpower the art. Still, it’s a lot of talking, so be prepared.
Past the first five pages, we get flashbacks of how the main conflict began when Warbound received his powers of immortality and strength, and we see how Warbound has walked a path of destruction and revenge. We also see Dr. Jones is not quite convinced his story is real, or at least, she hasn’t made up her mind either way.
Without giving away much of the latter half of the book, Warbound applies logic to his killing, those who help the sorcerer are not the only ones who die, and a fellow environmentalist appears.
Final Thoughts
War Bound #1, available on Kickstarter now, is a dialog heavy and action light first issue, elevated by a swift pace and excellent acting. By the end of the issue, the reader is fully informed about everything going on, and the ending dovetails into bigger things for the next issue.
Score: 8/10
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