Comic Review: Helm Greycastle Book One Vol. 1 (Image Comics)

Image Comics brings you a fantasy comic about a dragon prince who has been abducted and rests his fate to a band of soldiers which is Helm Greycastle on its first volume.

Alright, I expect something coming from The Dragon Prince series on Netflix, but instead, make way for a comic series that focuses on the Mexican heritage that poses a threat to the last dragon prince, and to have some warriors to rescue the prince or help the people, to me this is brand new. The comic is created by Henry Barajas and Bryan Valenza, I don’t have to tell you about Henry because he’s the same author who is best known for a memoir/documentary about his great grandfather which is La Voz De M.A.Y.O comic. However, Bryan is a comic book artist who occupies his time coloring comics such as Skie of Fire, InSexts, Golgotha, and Power Rangers. I may be a novice at coloring but he claims to have a better quality to color his illustrations just to make it clearer for the readers, but there is more than meets the eye.

Take this front cover of the comic for example, the whole concept actually takes you to another Dungeons and Dragons adventure up ahead, however, the colorist decided to have the whole cover in cool color while the main characters are waging a war, and surprisingly we have a bard in their party as well. The brightness and shading have more in detail because the artist focuses on rendering the concept of the main characters to have cool color, while the dragon prince on the right, the colorist focused on shading him with a darker cool color. I don’t know if there’s anything else to talk about, except for the berserker on the bottom where half of the coloring turned into warm color so suddenly. I guess the colorist wanted to have the whole concept to have some balance in coloring, but unfortunately, he clearly focused to have a cold-looking coloring instead.

The story starts with a band of warriors who are fighting the undead who are gone in the quest to rescue a dragon child which happens to be a dragon prince from some Aztec warrior tribe who happens to seek help to take out the jaguar knights. So instead of helping some orc to rescue a dragon child, instead they’re helping the Aztec tribe to take out the jaguar knights, however, the dragon child is getting along with the other prisoners by sharing their stories. Speaking of stories, there are some interesting facts of this comic, not only do we get to see some familiar Aztec religions, but we also get some easter eggs like some warrior dog that almost resembles the protector of the graves, Anubis from Egypt and the crucifixion of Jesus Christ that is burning on fire. The amazing thing about the story is that the whole setting is turning into another quest that is totally portrayed by Dungeons and Dragons and The Sun Warriors from Avatar The Last Airbender. I can’t tell where to begin with all of this, but it feels like you’re taking on another quest on Dungeons and Dragons, and then create a comic like this one, well that is what I can summarize this comic in a nutshell.

The story is interesting, again no other fact that this is like Dungeons and Dragons mixed with some Aztec religions. However, the hero has to choose a fork in the road to know what side quest do you want to be involved in? Rescuing the dragon child or helping the tribe to defeat the jaguar warriors? I’d say both because the main characters just came there to rescue the child. If it’s not enough, there are some special events at the end of the story, some various games in a role-playing setting by Tristan J. Tarwater, explaining the rules and gives you a guide to know how to win the game. The art is like making you see as another Dungeons and Dragons comic concept, the Helm Greycastle band of warriors looked so fierce, even when they’re in the middle of a battle against the undead. And then there’s the Aztecs that they’re drawn almost like real Mexicans around the block, forgive me but I’ve seen a lot of facial expressions between the Aztec male warriors who look like their cheeks are squeezing over their lips. Looking back to La Voz de Mayo, the Mexican characters have some interesting facial interactions that the reader has to offer. The artist simply focuses on the person’s face shape that seems to be drastically changing from the point of view. The male characters of La Voz De Mayo and this comic are the ones that have the most facial shapes of their expressions. The background is really interesting other than the fact the whole set takes you to another world, but the artist developed to create an Aztec temple, a burning volcano where a band of warriors fought against giant bats and some parts of Mexico. Other than that, this comic is interesting if you’re into another fantasy adventure with some Aztec religion and such.