Writer: Erik Mona

Artist: Jonathan Lau

Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment

Just when you thought it was safe to search the sewers beneath the City of Secrets for that worm Thulgroon, our friends Valeros, Seoni, Kyra, and Merisiel disappear in a red haze, but to where? Worldscape is a new place where we are sure to encounter a few more friends from completely different worlds. Expect to see John Carter of Mars, Tarzan, and the beautiful she-devil herself, Red Sonja. All in one glorious world together. Will they be friends? Enemies? What devilry brought them all to this place and for what reason? There is only one way to find out…

Erik Mona is either mad, or an evil genius. The mere thought of bringing all of these iconic characters together in one world is a pipe dream, right? Couldn’t happen. Too difficult to marry one group with another, with different technologies, different magics, different gods, different, well, everything, right? Wrong. The writing is straight out of a good fantasy novel, thrusting the reader into the action and having us caught up in the hullaballoo before we know what even hit us. Just as we are getting our bearings, bam! We are thrust into another setting, with an entirely different set of rules and characters, and we are already primed and ready to devour the new and find out what is going on. In this first issue, Mona does a fine job in marrying the characters from different worlds while still maintaining their individuality. There is no awkward pauses, no moments where one doesn’t feel that the story isn’t just right.

Jonathan Lau, likewise, does a fantastic job rendering these characters in all their separate but different glories. He deftly is able to move from one backdrop to another, one moment in a sewer, the next a jungle, without a hint of hesitation nor the feeling of being out of place. His eye for detail on the creatures and characters themselves is fantastic. From whichever of the story-realms you come into this title you do not lose those independent feels, and at the same time become familiar with this new realm of Worldscape. It seems that this new place is unique to itself, while its denizens come from anywhere else, and the marriage of the two is remarkable.

If you are a fan of fantasy and high adventure, of magic and might, of brains and brawn, you will be sure to enjoy this new title. Dynamite has wrapped up a nice explosive package for us to blow away the walls between these worlds and we are the better for it. Once the smoke in our brains clears, the smile grows on our lips and I, for one, cannot but be on tenterhooks in anticipation for the next installment.

Writing: 5/5

Artwork: 5/5

Overall: 5/5