Battle Beasts #1
Written by Bobby Gurnow
Art by Valerio Schiti
Colors by Claudia SGC
Letters by Shawn Lee
Covers by Dan Brereton, Ulises Farinas, and Valerio Schiti & Claudia SGC
IDW Publishing
Release Date: July 11, 2012
Cover Price: $3.99

A comic book based on a toy line from the 1980s. Hmm. Who would’ve ever thought. Well, in Battle Beasts #1, IDW goes above and beyond to make a really good COMIC, not just another licensed book. They got some great talent, who put together a really cool story based on these little toys.

Writer Bobby Gurnow tells a great story about an alien race of…well..beast in a story LOADED with all sorts of fantastic axes, swords, shields, maces, and other weapons. A long anticipated “call” that they’ve been waiting for takes them to Earth, where all Hell breaks loose. Hey, YOU try going about your daily business with a giant grizzly bear in golden armor breathing down your neck! As much as I kid, this is a GREAT, fun, action-packed comic book. What could be just another “alien invasion” story turns out to be something a little bit smarter than 95% of them that I’ve read before, and it’s much better choreographed than any movie of this type that I’ve seen. It’s certainly worth your time of you have even the slightest interest in the sci-fi genre.

Artist Valerio Schiti is a great find for this book!!! He mixes a great blend of the fantastic and the real here, without making anything look hokey, over the top or unbelievable. Even though the Beasts look WAY different than the humans of Earth, there’s a natural strangeness about both species when they’re seen together. A perfect blend of otherworldly and “normal.” I’m not sure how much he had to do with character design on the Beasts, but they look AWESOME!!!! Very bad-ass, totally alien, yet familiar, and everything is drawn really consistently with well laid out pages and storytelling. GREAT art on this book!

I remember having a few Battle Beasts when I was a kid, and they were pretty cool. But NOWHERE near as cool as this story makes them. Recently Diamond Comics has brought them back via their Minimates line, and I’ve gotten a few at some convention. Again, their cool, but not half as awesome as this comic. I recommend this for anyone with the least bit of interest in this title. Also, give this to a younger reader, they’ll enjoy it on a totally different level than you will.