Warhammer: Condemned By Fire #1
Written by Dan Abnett and Ian Edginton
Art by Rahsan Ekedal
Colors by Fellipe Martins
Letters by Ed Dukeshire
Boom! Studios
Covers by Joe Abraham, Jaime Jones
Cover price: $3.99; Available now

First things first, if you’re a computer gamer waiting for the Warhammer Fantasy MMO, you need to go out and find a copy of this book right now, because each copy comes with the chance to get into the Beta for Age of Reckoning, but if you’ve been looking forward to it, you probably have a couple copies already. And if you’re not into the whole gaming thing, you should still pick this issue up, as a good horror tale, in the vein of a good Conan story.

BOOM! Studios has done a good job with the Warhammer license so far, both on the 40k side, and the Fantasy side, which is where we find ourselves for this series. The series follows one of the Witch Hunters of the Empire (this will make sense to fans of the Warhammer universe) as he tracks a heretic across a harsh landscape. He eventually tracks him to a forsaken village that carries a horrible secret. Inside the village, the story takes a turn towards the horrific, ending with the Witch Hunter moving on to track down the source of the horror.

Dan Abnett and Ian Edginton are masters of the Warhammer milieu, having written many books and comics, so you know that the story is steeped in the setting. They capture the mood of the story perfectly, setting up a mystery that continues into the next issue, but making this more or less a done in one story. My only issue with the story is the same that I’ve had with the other Warhammer comics that have come out, which is that these stories are for fans, and others need not apply. I have a pretty good knowledge of the universe, and even I was a bit lost. I wish I could recommend this to casual readers, but really, this is meant for Warhammer fans. They’ll enjoy this though.

The art by Rahsan Ekedal works well for the story. There’s a nice painted quality to the work which is enhanced by the color work of Fellipe Martins. The colors are very washed out for most of the issue which works for the story, especially when the color pops in again at the end. Again, the art works well to capture the feeling of the setting, which is what most readers will be there for.

So, with the rest of the Warhammer comic line, I’d heartily suggest fans of the game pick this series up. People not familiar with the game and setting will probably be put off by this. I wish it was more accessible, but sadly it’s not. To be fair, it would be hard to catch new readers up on a large chunk of back story, but a little explanation would go a long way. But, if you play the table top game or the computer games, you’ll get a kick out of this. I certainly enjoyed it enough.