Sunday, February 14, 2010

Solomon Kane: Death's Black Riders #2 (of 4)

As a creation of Robert E. Howard, Solomon Kane obviously isn't as popular as Conan, and probably falls behind Kull with many fans - but the dour Puritan also has a strong contingent of fans, including yours truly.

Here's a character who fights evil with sword, pistol and his wits, pledging his abilities to doing deadly work for the Lord. Roaming Europe in the 16th century, he encounters all manner of evil creatures, including demons, monsters and humans.

In this series he makes his way across the Black Forest and finds himself allied with a mysterious swordsman against some strange four-legged monsters that look like horses from hell - or perhaps centaurs from hades.

The duo seek shelter in a dark inn, but find that evil takes many deadly forms.

Writer Scott Allie has been doing a good job writing in Howard's style, and this issue is very much in the vein of Howard's brand of horror, with unseen, suggested terrors firing the imagination and lurking in the dark.

The art by Mario Guevara fits the dark mood of the story, but the style is very sketchy, and there's not much variety in the "shots" he chooses - it's all presented in medium shots, with few closeups or establishing shots, and not much flow between panels. It's not bad, but with some more variety it could be even better.

But those are relatively minor criticisms - it's great to see this character back and featured in a comic that's faithful to the original. Keep 'em coming!

Grade: B-

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