Burn in hell or suffer this curse.
Creative Staff:
Story: Michael Moreci
Art: Nathan Gooden
Colors: Addison Duke
Letterer: Jim Campbell
What They Say:
Owen the Barbarian has been cursed to do good with what remains of his life. His bloodthirsty weapon, Axe, has become his moral compass with a drinking problem. Together they wander the realm, foredoomed to help any who seek assistance. But there is one thing Owen hates more than a life with rules: Witches.
Welcome to the skull-cracking, blood-splattering, mayhem-loving comic brave enough to ask: How can a man sworn to do good do so much violence? Hah! F***ing with you. It’s just…BARBARIC.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
With a love of a lot of classic sword and sorcery material, I was definitely looking forward to seeing what Barbaric would be about. I’ve enjoyed a number of projects from Michael Moreci over the last few years so seeing a new original project from him definitely piqued my interest and it launches wonderfully here with an extended opening installment. Even better, or luckier, is that he’s joined by Nathan Gooden and Addison Duke. The book looks fantastic with some great character designs and a really wonderful capture of the flow of action throughout it. There is a ton of material here and it works incredibly well to deliver a cohesive, coherent, and engaging world to sink our teeth into.
The premise here is simple but the execution is what delivers it, especially with the extra page count that this issue has. We’re introduced to Owen, a barbarian who comes from a long line of barbarians that doesn’t feel like a barbarian anymore. Some time ago, he ended up being transformed by a trio of witches who are using him as part of a grand long-term plan, initially spending time with him looking like guys that he was friends with. What they did was offer him a choice after ensuring he was the right choice; to go to hell now and face an eternity with those that he’s killed or willingly accept the curse that they’re offering him. He has to accept it for it to work and while he’s initially unsure of his choice, the reality is that he has to accept it and attempt to move on with his life.
That curse is one where he has to do good when asked by people in need in the world. It makes him something of a good samaritan but in this kind of dark fantasy-style world it often means him helping the weak against the strong and killing them for it. Amusingly, he has to be asked and once asked cannot refuse. And the giant axe he has actually talks with him and kind of manages the worthiness of the requests that are made, so that he does do the things actually required. Even more fun is that the axe certainly enjoys killing people that are bad as it gets it drunk. We see a couple of encounters that sets their dynamic up, which is wonderfully excellent, and how he gets roped into helping a witch at the end who ends up making a request of him that will likely pair them together for some time.
In Summary:
I flat out love Barbaric. I almost want to say we get too much material in this issue but it’s designed to lay out the basics and get us on our journey – and I think it does it without the need for future flashbacks to expand on it more. We’ll need to know the witches intent in doing this to Owen but that can all come from going forward and I’m hopeful that’s the path so we can simply join Owen on his journey. And I really hope Moreci has a lot planned for this because Owen is a really great character from the get-go, as is his axe, and our first blush look at the new witch at the end is going to raise interest all the more. It’s a great read with fantastic artwork that has me excited for this in a huge way.
Grade: A-
Age Rating: 17+
Released By: Vault Comics
Release Date: June 30th, 2021
MSRP: $3.99
