The glory of battle and war isn’t all about heroics and bravery. Come see the nightmare of combat in Adventure Finder: The Edge of the Empire #2 by Action Lab Entertainment.

ADVENTURE FINDERS: THE EDGE OF EMPIRE #2

Writer: Rod Espinosa
Artist: Rod Espinosa
Colorist: Rod Espionsa
Letterer: Rod Espionsa
Editor: Shawn Gabborin
Publisher: Action Lab Entertainment
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: September 18th, 2019

Previously on Adventure Finder: The Edge of the Empire: Clarinette was on the way back to her hometown with Liege Lord Justinius and a caravan before they were ambushed! Now stuck in a huge battle, will Clari, Jolfe, and Ariarra survive? Who is this new anthropomorphic animal who has joined to help Clari? Come see if they will survive!

BATTLE IS NOT PRETTY

The issue starts with Clarinette and the anthropomorphic cat known as Asogog both taking arrows and having to pull the arrows out and bandage up before jumping back into the frey. The fight is fairly rough, we see these orc creatures using people as human body bags, both Asogog and Clari using repeating crossbows to kill a lot of enemies, and wagons being set on fire. But the men of Bridgetown began to take people from the caravan and set up a defensive perimeter. Clari goes back for Naha and carries her on her back with an injured leg before heading back to the front lines. However, as they move forward they see these giant creatures that have wooden armor decimating the perimeter. The shot pans out to see that almost the entire caravan on fire and the place is littered with dead corpses.

THE ATROCITIES OF BATTLE

First and foremost, the way this book is drawn and colored is beautiful. The attention to detail is incredible. Rob Espionsa must have taken hours drawing each panel to get down the smaller details like the arrows planted in the some of the wagons to the amount of leaves on every tree. In this issue, we do not see a huge progression of the story but instead we see the consequences of battle. It highlights how gruesome battle can be. I am struck by Clari taking Nala and comforting her before strapping Nala to her back. Perhaps it is because I am a father to a toddler but there is a certain amount of anguish in Nala’s face that is heartbreaking. In the fantasy genre, writers tend to spend a lot of time on the heroes of the fight. War affects more than just the people fighting and I appreciated Rob Espinosa exploring that in his storytelling.

THE ACTIONS THAT MAKE HEROES

Adventure finders is primarily a coming of age story for Clari. I am astonished by her sheer will power to move forward after an injury. I must be a wimp but if I took an arrow to the upper thigh, I’d probably go see a medic and sit on the rest of the war. But hey, I am not a protagonist in a comic book. This battle must become a story point for Clari and her opinion of battle. She is depicted as a positive-attitude character and I wonder if this will darken the character outlook in future books.

BOTTOM LINE: THIS ISSUE HOOKED ME

At the first issue, I knew I wanted to read the second one. After the second issue, I now know I want to read the entire series. 4.5 out of 5 for me.

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Adventure Finder: The Edge of Empire #2

95%

95%

Hooked

First and foremost, the way this book is drawn and colored is beautiful. The attention to detail is incredible. Rob Espionsa must have taken hours drawing each panel to get down the smaller details like the arrows planted in the some of the wagons to the amount of leaves on every tree.

• Writing

  9.5
• Art

  10
• Coloring

  9
• User Ratings (1 Votes)
  8