The Quarter Bin

Yesterday, we gave you a sneak peek at Virgin‘s Blade of the Warrior: Kshatriya #1, which goes on sale today. Want to know how the full issue held up? Hit the jump to read the full review.

Blade of the Warrior: Kshatriya #1
Writer: Arjun Gaind
Artist: R. Manikandan
Cover Artist: Bart Sears, Randy Elliott, Anand Balusamy, and Ashok Bhadana

When Virgin promoted Kshatriya as a “sword-and-sorcery tale”, I was intrigued, but at the same time, I thought, “Well, that’s certainly been done before.” As a writer, I know how hard it is to come up with original ideas when it seems like there’s nothing new under the sun. However, there are ways to make a classic theme feel fresh and unique, so I went into the story with an open mind.

The story is definitely “classic”, and by that I mean it’s been done before. The tale begins when the son of a king uses the forces of evil to seek revenge on his father for not naming him the successor to the throne. He succeeds in murdering his father and taking his kingdom, but his little brother escapes with his life and will not rest until the kingdom is back in its proper hands.

It’s not a bad story by any means; I honestly did enjoy reading it, and I would like to know where it’s going to go next. The real problem, though, is that almost every element of the story is reminiscent of something else. It didn’t evoke the feel of originality that I want from a comic book, or any work of art, for that matter. I think that Arjun Gaind is a good writer, he handles dialogue very well, and there’s no question that R. Manikandan is an extremely talented artist. I just would have liked to see more unique ideas in something as common as a “sword-and-sorcery tale”.

Though my complaints might imply otherwise, like I said, this is not a bad story. It is only the first issue, after all, so maybe as the story continues, it will evolve into something deeper and more unique. Let’s hope so, anyway.