Writers: Dan Abnett & Ian Edginton
Artist: Rahsan Ekedal
Company: Boom! Studios

Just as Abnett & Lanning have carved out a niche for themselves in the galactic side of the Marvel Universe, Abnett has teamed with Edginton to create a place within the Boom! Studios publishing house. That place? The war-torn, grim universes of Warhammer, both fantasy and sci-fi flavored. Condemned by Fire is the former, a Man With No Name meets Solomon Kane style adventure of a witch hunter who roams the land, using blade and black powder pistol on chaos cultists and undead and scaring the crap out of even those he’s sworn to protect. The story here is familiar, a “plays by his own rules” loner whose dogged pursuit of a fugitive leads him into a much bigger danger, but it features note perfect execution, great moment-to-moment writing and strong artwork.

A familiarity with the Warhammer Fantasy universe is not required to enjoy Condemned by Fire. Though fans of the setting may get a warm glow from the use of judgmental god of good Sigmar or chaos daemon Slaanesh, the basics are easy to pick up from context, and you don’t need to know the specifics of the gods to figure out what’s going on. As I noted, the story beats are familiar, from the lone rider coming to town to a deeper threat that he’s warned against (and of course ignores) to the style of confrontation between our protagonist and that deeper evil. It’s a welcoming, accessible book in the medieval fantasy genre that, Devil’s Due Dungeons & Dragons books and Conan aside, is rarely touched in modern comics. I’m certainly glad that, unlike Devil’s Due’s D&D offerings, Boom! aren’t merely recreating Warhammer novels as comics, but allowing those with experience crafting those novels to create new stories created just for the comics.

Condemned By Fire is set up as a continuing story, but like Forge of War before it, this appears to be a series of standalone issues that form a larger picture. There’s a complete story in this one, a satisfying setup through to conclusion. Rather than rely on a cliffhanger to get the readers back, Condemned By Fire relies on being a damn good read, so that readers will want to return to see more. Elements of this story may return in later issues, or they may not, but a casual reader could definitely pick up this story and get a satisfying and complete tale of Magnus Gault, Templar of Sigmar, chasing down his quarry, the cultist Szymon Magister and dealing with a town full of nasties as a result.

While Condemned by Fire looks and acts like a pulp fantasy story ala Robert E. Howard, it also has elements of a western. The protagonist’s use of a black powder pistol makes for some stirring visual moments courtesy of Ekedal, and the lone man riding into town definitely calls to mind the classic western heroes moreso than the knights and mercenaries of fantasy fiction. The book overall has a great look, with moody, dour color by Fellipe Martins and clear, clean storytelling by Ekedal. In the past, despite my general happiness with them, I’ve occasionally had gripes with the clarity of Boom!’s Warhammer comics, and there’s no problem with that here. Visually, this is easily the best of the Warhammer comics so far.

Condemned by Fire is a fast-paced action/horror story with an interesting dark fantasy setting and a well-crafted anti-hero in the lead role. It doesn’t have a lot of deep things to say about the moral quandaries of witch-hunting or the oppressive theocratic nature of the Warhammer world, but it’s an engaging read with strong writing and artwork. Those with a fondness for Robert E. Howard, Frank Frazetta and other pulp fantasy will definitely want to check this one out.

This comic is due for release on May 14th. This is an early review.