A plan for revenge is hatched.
Creative Staff:
Story: Troy Brownfield
Art: Fritz Casas
What They Say:
A new dark fantasy epic begins here! In a fairy tale land of knights and magic, a royal child’s life hangs in the balance. Summoned to save the princess, a young woman of untold power begins a journey that will uncover secrets, reveal forbidden desires and stoke the fires of war! The reign in blood is about to be born! Inspired by the nightmares of your youth and the notorious Countess Elizabeth Bathory, THE BLOOD QUEEN comes from writer Troy Brownfield!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
As wrong as it may seem at times, a good cover can get you to read anything. Blood Queen certainly has a good cover as it presents the dual imagery of the darkness and supposed light here and it’s filled with great detail and color to draw you in. The series, a fantasy-ish piece, is one of several that have been cropping up as of late and I’ll always have a curiosity with such books since I grew up with so much in the way of gaming in these kinds of worlds. With Blood Queen, we get a somewhat standard kingdom setting in which to place things, albeit one where blood magic has been banned for some time. But there are always those that practice these arts and that can make for some interesting stories as it reveals itself.
The opening issue goes decently as one to set the basic foundations as we’re introduced to the kingdom through the panicked ride of a knight named Frenec. He’s been sent by the king to bring the Elder Winifred to the castle to try and find out what’s wrong with the princess, their baby daughter, who is terribly ill. She’s been unable to be diagnosed so they need someone with the Elder’s great skill and wisdom. But Frenec isn’t able to bring her back – honestly, she wouldn’t survive the ride on the horse – and instead has the Elder recommend a young woman named Elizabeth. That’s not exactly what Frenec would expect to bring back since they want wisdom, and how much wisdom can a young woman have, but the recommendation of the Elder is enough for Frenec, and eventually for the King and Queen as well, though certain advisors are completely against it.
What the incident with the baby presents is an opportunity though, one that we’re not privy to completely, as Frenec’s arrival speeds up the plan that both the Elder and Elizabeth had to get her into the court. With her being able to save the princess, discovering that she’s been bewitched and using that eventually to prove her usefulness there, she’s able to make her way into the King and Queen’s good graces and to become a part of the court. Though her reasons for being there aren’t revealed, we get to see how she has managed to capture the attention of some key people in order to begin whatever it is her real mission is. That in itself is the big hook here, and it’s admittedly not a strong one because we don’t know what her true motivations are. There’s some decent stage setting going on here and we get some stock characters for the most part, but Elizabeth herself is the main draw as you can see her being a master manipulator as it progresses. But until we know the reason for it all, there’s a certain aloofness to it that keeps you from really connecting with the work.
In Summary:
With a fairly standard setup here, there’s not a lot to draw on to really establish itself as something that stands on its own. There’s any number of fantasy novels that operate off of similar beginnings, though this book has the added plus of some pretty appealing artwork by Fritz Casas to work off of. Brownfield moves things along well enough with the story and the dialogue is handled well as it isn’t too overdone or coming across as annoying for lack of a better word. But the greatest sin the book has is that it doesn’t offer a strong enough hook to make you want to come back for more. While that’s easier to do when you’ve got a couple of issues under your belt and the audience already intrigued, it’s problematic with a first issue since you need to give folks a reason to come back. There’s a tease here, but it’s likely not enough for most unless they’re simply strong fans of the genre.
Grade: C+
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: June 11th, 2014
MSRP: $3.99
