20th September, 2008

KRIS BATHER

Dragon Prince #1

"A kid-friendly, simple story with a cool looking, tattooed dragon hunter and a boy on the run, and in way over his head, Dragon Prince will be an oasis to those seeking relief from the “edgy,” and mature epics currently clogging the shelves."

Starting any comic with a wounded crimson dragon being attacked by gun wielding motorcyclists in an ancient rice field is certainly attention grabbing. Writer Ron Marz (Green Lantern, Witchblade) is no stranger to worlds which couple mysticism with heroism, and here he distinguishes himself from the pack yet again by offering another creator-owned adventure.

We soon learn that the man versus dragon battle is being relayed by a single mother to her young son, Aaron. The boy seems vaguely interested in such bed-time tales, until the next day at school, when his regular bullying gets him all riled up, triggering a transformation within him in which he vomits fire and turns pale green. How embarrassing.

Running away from school, leaving a crispy bully in his wake, he arrives home to find his mother, who is not surprised at all by these life changing events. In fact, she expected them. She tells Aaron that it was only a matter of time until his true heritage would be shown.

The idea of of teens becoming something other than human and manifesting new powers resembles early X-Men, and together with the whole “My Dad’s a dragon?!” vibe, there’s also a tinge of Phil Hester’s Firebreather series. And that’s a good thing.

Lee Moder’s art is superb as always, giving both the home/playground settings as much familiarity as the more fantastic realms, but with a dynamic nature evident in both worlds.

Where the series goes from here will be an interesting lesson in patience. Hopefully Marz manages to pull a few surprises from his hat to keep both newbies and jaded fanboys entranced for the next three issues.

A kid-friendly, simple story with a cool looking, tattooed dragon hunter and a boy on the run, and in way over his head, Dragon Prince will be an oasis to those seeking relief from the “edgy,” and mature epics currently clogging the shelves.

You can visit Top Cow’s official site for a preview here:

www.topcow.com/Site/readers/dragonprince1/Default.html

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