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‘WarZone Girls Volume 1, Issue 1: The Fight for Honor Begins’ – Comic Book Review

WarZone

 

WarZoneWarZone Girls Volume 1, Issue 1: The Fight for Honor Begins is a brand new online graphic novel series from creators Thomas Nyman (writer) and Marat Mychaels (pencils), which follows the story of “five female mercenaries targeted for immediate execution” by a tyrannical World Government who rules over the remains of our world after a destructive, massive, and apocalyptic world war. While WarZone Girls suffers from some of the typical pitfalls that most new indie comics tussle with at the beginning, Nyman and Mychaels bring massive potential to the book, and the additional WarZone Girls content and features on the official website establish WarZone Girls as a series with some real (potentially nano-bot enhanced) legs!

SPOILERS BELOW


The first issue of WarZone Girls successfully accomplishes a good amount of what is necessary with a first issue of a new series. Nyman’s script sets up the the post-apocalyptic setting that now exists in the time after “The Last War.” The culmination of corporate greed, advances in technology, and the anarchy that follows the shattering of civil order, “The Last War” has transformed the world into a place controlled by an oppressive government. In this harsh and violent setting, the S-Squad, five female mercenaries operating as part of an underground resistance against The World Government, emerge with a mission to save mankind.

With WarZone Girls, Nyman creates an interesting, dystopian setting that features thematic elements inspired by a current cultural setting where the public distrusts authority, has fears regarding new technology, and is consistently reminded about the threat of war and/or the end of the world. Nyman also has skill for dispensing exposition, explaining the history of “The Last War” during the beginning of the first issue, but using an intercut torture scene to keep the large amount of necessary information from becoming stagnant by propelling the reader forward with the tension and mystery of who is being tortured and why. Nyman also doesn’t hold back when it comes to making his lead females strong and deadly. Mychaels’ crisp and clean pencils are easy on the eyes, easily handling both the robotic/tech and human elements of the script, and his skills definitely serve as a great pairing for Nyman’s writing. The rest of the art team deserves credit for a job well done for their additions to the book, especially Anthony George, who is responsible for WarZone Girls’ beautiful colors.

I did have a few issues with WarZone Girls upon my first reading. The most grating is that not all of the S-Squad’s female mercs clear the hurdle when it comes to the advancement of realistic and reasonable combat attire. Despite the more “reasonable” costumes pictured in the promotional image posted with this review, several characters actually end up sporting the cringe-worthy “belly shirt” look in the first issue, presumably in order to thrill a young, teenage male audience. Still, I have hope for an adjustment of this element given that Nyman actually has one of the lead females comment on the “undressed” state of the group. One can tell from several of the more armored looks that Mychaels‘ depicts that he and Nyman could easily come up with some more practical (and, frankly, bada–) outfits that would arm these guns-for-hire properly and make S-Squad more like that frosty bug crusher, Pvt. Vasquez, from Aliens than the forgettable cast of the DOA: Dead or Alive. I also wish that Nyman had given us a more focused introduction of the different members of the S-Squad (Right now, I can mostly identify them by their choice of weapon.), but this critique may come too early, as this sort of “rounding out” of the characters could come in an upcoming issue and end up playing out better in the collected volume one than it does issue to issue.

FINAL SCORE: 3 deadly female assassins out of 5

All in all, there’s no reason to not take a chance and check out WarZone Girls Volume 1, Issue 1: The Fight for Honor Begins and see if this new, fearsome, female force inspires you to enlist with them on further missions. In addition to being able to read the entire first issue of WarZone Girls for free, the official website offers a ton of extra content and bonuses, including a theme song contest and First-Person Shooter called WarZone Secure.

That’s all for now, comic book sniffers! Don’t let those nanobots melt your brain!

‘Till the end of the world,
-Bryant the Comic Book Slayer

 

 

 

Bryant Dillon, Fanbase Press President

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Favorite Comic BookPreacher by Garth Ennis and Steve DillonFavorite TV ShowBuffy the Vampire Slayer Favorite BookThe Beach by Alex Garland

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