Oona has survived Ragnarok but the world was devastated by the attack. She finds herself trying to return to a lost friend and trying to fit in with the other elven Rangers. Come see her story in the The After Realm Quarterly #1 by Image Comics!

THE AFTER REALM QUARTERLY #1

Writer: Michael Avon Oeming
Artist: Michael Avon Oeming
Colorist: Taki Soma
Letterer: Shawn Lee
Publisher: Image Comics
Cover Price: $5.99
Release Date: February 5th, 2020

Previously in After Realm: Michael Avon Oeming has written Thor: Ragnarok and Red Sonya and co-created The United States of Murder. Now he is here with Image Comics to bring you The After Realm. The After Realm tells the story of Oona who has made a deal with Pikki to find him but that was before Fenris attacked. Will she be able to find her old friend in a war-ravaged world?

THE GRAVE MISTAKE

After Ragnorak, Oona is being trained to become a ranger from the survivors. Led by Master Grimildr, the rangers are there to make sure Loki is never freed to kill the rest of the surviving world. They train new blood and remain constantly vigilant in case Loki escapes his bonds. Oona does not take well to the Ranger training and is kicked out of the program for general insubordination. She is put in charge of gardening to keep back the vines that grow from Loki’s prison with only her animal companion/guardian Pooka as company.

However, she has enough gardening and neglects her chores to follow Ranger-in-Training Bjorsi to check on Loki’s prison. When at the prison, Oona has a vision that leads her into a direct conversation with Loki. Bjorsi broke Oona out of her trance and they head back to report to Master Grimildr. Oona lies to get her position back in the Rangers but is quickly kicked out again after a mishap with her guardian. Oona in her despair goes back to Loki’s grave. Loki takes advantage of Oona and mind controls her to free himself.

RACKED BY GUILT

Oona’s main theme has to deal with guilt. It starts with her trying to save Pikki before Ragnarok and the guilt she has that she cannot find him. It is assumed that Pikki is dead or at best lost somewhere and she has to live with the fact that she promised that they would go on adventures. Her second bit of guilt has to do with lying to come back into the Rangers. She then will end up having guilt because of Loki’s ability to control her and will likely become a theme in future issues. This was pretty well set up for issue 1 and I am hooked into the character and her flaws.

I must be a nerd. Within the first few pages Oona receives a map and runes from Pikki and sets up their friendship. These runes looked like D&D dice and the map looked like an old school grid map that you would draw on during your games. That set up the whole tone for the rest of the book for me and unfortunately it wasn’t the tone the author intended. It wasn’t until the second read through was I able to shake the thought that it was going to be a “we meet in the tavern” kind of book. That is entirely on me and my expectations. Once I got past that, the story was fairly strong and the art was well done in its style. I have high hopes for this book.

BOTTOM LINE: I AM ON BOARD

I’m sold to check out issue 2 when it comes out and if that issue is as good as the first one, I think I’m on board for the long haul. I love fantasy adventures and I am enjoying comics coming out that feature good stories in that genre. 4 out of 5 for The After Realm Quarterly #1 by Image.

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