Elves. Why did it have to be elves.
Creative Staff:
Story: Nick Kyme
Art: Jack Jadson, Nelson Pereira
Colors: Fabricio Guerra
Letterer: Simon Bowland
What They Say:
Bone-crunching sports action in the fantasy world of Warhammer
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Blood Bowl didn’t bowl me over with its first installment but I had to give props to Jack Jadson for his layouts and designs in that he made a football comic fun to read. That’s not an easy task, especially if you’re not a big fan of the game, or of Blood Bowl itself. Sports are difficult to translate into other mediums for a number of reasons by Kyme and the artists did a solid job in creating an infectious kind of energy about it. That carries through here but at the expense of the story itself because it is largely about the game. Which, frankly, is as it should be but that means a limited amount of interest or some falling off about it as it progresses. When we get down to the last couple of pages for this particular match-up I felt like I had reached my limit of it being interesting and was ready to check out because of it.
With the team fully in motion and together they’re doing pretty well and we get to start this issue off with them enjoying a post-game party that goes into a pretty big brawl. And that doesn’t play well with the manager since it means injured players and that can mess up any strategic planning. With a few fun character gags in the mix, notably with Gerrik’s product placement, the story moves well into setting up for the next game with Loren’s Leapers, a group of highly skilled elves lead by the king that has been alive for five thousand years. Suffice to say, experience and a strong and fast team are in the mix here. It’s fun watching the Harbinger’s scout out the opposition and Gerrik’s going on about an elven girl he once fooled around with because you know it’s all going to come back to haunt them.
The bulk of the book does focus on the matchup and it’s pretty all over the map as the Leaper’s have some great skills and you have some like Gerrik that are pretty wary, and rightly so considering what he finds out about his elven lass. But the book has a lot of fun with the crunching and deadly match that moves along as it touches on earlier nods with pyromancy and dwarven beer while also showing us how the fans can make a difference when it turns into a real brawl as their encouragement can add to the team’s morale. Yeah, these are all familiar elements from the tabletop game that sound awkward when brought into storytelling mode but I’m almost glad that they just call it like it is rather than trying to find some weird and creative way to blend it in more that would in turn likely stand out more.
In Summary:
Blood Bowl is Blood Bowl. There aren’t as many character moments here compared to the first issue that got us into a lot of the design of the world and that’s pretty expected. What we get is a lot of action as we watch a practice match and the latest tournament game and it gets pretty rough and tumble with a few fumbles along the way. Kyme’s script is solid enough but it gets a bit more wordy than I think it needs to with the banter but it’s Jadson’s artwork and overall layouts that keeps it fun and flowing, especially as you look to see what little quirks are in the mix with the chaos on the field. This is still definitely a limited appeal kind of book but it’s pretty well done considering it’s called Blood Bowl.
Grade: B-
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Titan Comics
Release Date: July 12tht, 2017
MSRP: $3.99
