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zare_i's review against another edition
4.0
Gilad, Eternal Warrior, seems to have finally found peace. He is placed in a place that would be not out of place of Warhammer or Moorcock's universes - personal piece of Heaven where he is surrounded by those most dear to him. And first neighbor is another realm that hosts rather hostile entities that are crossed with our hero. And unfortunately road to work leads right through that neighborhood.
I liked the concept of what is for all means and purposes eternal prison/torture cycle where every Gilad's rebirth and death is constant struggle. Gilad has a gift but that gift comes with the very costly price (up to the point that even in after-life Gilad has no peace).
What is exactly that drives Gilad on to grapple with same dangers over and over again? When does the one's duty-and-honor-approach-to-life end?
I am tempted to go into more details but don't want to spoil anything to new readers. Let me just say that, being fan of Warhammer universe concepts (both medieval-settings-one and 40k) this story made for a very, very interesting read.
Art was solid (but again after reading Blacksad and latest Elric comics my expectations are set lil' bit too high :)) but story was very interesting. And ending.... oh yes, the ending will just make you want to move on and read the vol 2 :)
Highly recommended to all fans of adventure and of course Eternal Warrior.
I liked the concept of what is for all means and purposes eternal prison/torture cycle where every Gilad's rebirth and death is constant struggle. Gilad has a gift but that gift comes with the very costly price (up to the point that even in after-life Gilad has no peace).
What is exactly that drives Gilad on to grapple with same dangers over and over again? When does the one's duty-and-honor-approach-to-life end?
I am tempted to go into more details but don't want to spoil anything to new readers. Let me just say that, being fan of Warhammer universe concepts (both medieval-settings-one and 40k) this story made for a very, very interesting read.
Art was solid (but again after reading Blacksad and latest Elric comics my expectations are set lil' bit too high :)) but story was very interesting. And ending.... oh yes, the ending will just make you want to move on and read the vol 2 :)
Highly recommended to all fans of adventure and of course Eternal Warrior.
zare_i's review against another edition
4.0
Gilad wakes up in a place he cannot recognize. Having fought through the purgatory to reach the world of the living to defend the Earth once more, not knowing where he is or what is going on is most definitely ruining his overall mood. And you do not want to be there when Gilad's mood is bad.
Story is centered around conflict (one-sided-animosity might be the better expression) between Gilad and the-dying-one, mysterious figure that influenced history for a long time but who needs to switch bodies after dying in his current one in order to continue with his machinations. His quest for ultimate power cause lots of grief to Gilad (although Gilad remained completely unaware of the actual culprit) including the abduction of Gilad's first-born thousands of years ago.
The-dying-one has been around for at least as long as Gilad but requires Gilad's secret that will enable him to reincarnate in the same body every time. And for this Gilad needs to die again and again and again. Unfortunately for our villain Gilad may die many times but he learns his lessons from every death thus coming back stronger and more knowledgeable of the dangers ahead.
Again I like the setting and the story. It has very warhammer-40k-like-vibe to it, immortal people fighting among themselves for a control over the mortal realm, both warlords in their own right with accumulated knowledge of the centuries. One serving Order and wanting to help humanity and other one serving only himself (Chaos) and treating others as nothing more than playthings and expendable tools.
Art is pretty good, especially introduction chapters where Gilad hunts the troops that have killed his wife and abducted his son.
Recommended to fans of stories of wandering warriors, epic saga's and of course Eternal Warrior story line.
Spoiler
Story is centered around conflict (one-sided-animosity might be the better expression) between Gilad and the-dying-one, mysterious figure that influenced history for a long time but who needs to switch bodies after dying in his current one in order to continue with his machinations. His quest for ultimate power cause lots of grief to Gilad (although Gilad remained completely unaware of the actual culprit) including the abduction of Gilad's first-born thousands of years ago.
The-dying-one has been around for at least as long as Gilad but requires Gilad's secret that will enable him to reincarnate in the same body every time. And for this Gilad needs to die again and again and again. Unfortunately for our villain Gilad may die many times but he learns his lessons from every death thus coming back stronger and more knowledgeable of the dangers ahead.
Again I like the setting and the story. It has very warhammer-40k-like-vibe to it, immortal people fighting among themselves for a control over the mortal realm, both warlords in their own right with accumulated knowledge of the centuries. One serving Order and wanting to help humanity and other one serving only himself (Chaos) and treating others as nothing more than playthings and expendable tools.
Art is pretty good, especially introduction chapters where Gilad hunts the troops that have killed his wife and abducted his son.
Recommended to fans of stories of wandering warriors, epic saga's and of course Eternal Warrior story line.
zare_i's review against another edition
4.0
Gilad returns to his sanctuary (what you might call private slice of Heaven) only to find his first-born, Kalam, missing.
After finding out that Kalam followed him to purgatory and never came back Gilad decides to save his child. But malevolent forces in purgatory will decide to use Gilad's combat prowess for their own goals.
Interesting story of one's redemption and finding the inner peace after years and years of relentless combat and bloodshed. Gilad tries to save his son and build rapport with him (considering that Kalam does not remember him at all being abducted at the very young age) but also to find the inner peace.
Because, are we sure that Gilad's inner sanctum is not just that - inner sanctum that exists only in his mind? Not Heaven (as it is usually envisaged) where his siblings, wives and kids are walking around but simulation of sorts provided by the Earth to give Gilad some respite between his deaths?
Interesting story, recommended to all fans of fantasy and of course Eternal Warrior.
After finding out that Kalam followed him to purgatory and never came back Gilad decides to save his child. But malevolent forces in purgatory will decide to use Gilad's combat prowess for their own goals.
Interesting story of one's redemption and finding the inner peace after years and years of relentless combat and bloodshed. Gilad tries to save his son and build rapport with him (considering that Kalam does not remember him at all being abducted at the very young age) but also to find the inner peace.
Because, are we sure that Gilad's inner sanctum is not just that - inner sanctum that exists only in his mind? Not Heaven (as it is usually envisaged) where his siblings, wives and kids are walking around but simulation of sorts provided by the Earth to give Gilad some respite between his deaths?
Interesting story, recommended to all fans of fantasy and of course Eternal Warrior.
crookedtreehouse's review against another edition
4.0
You don't need to be familiar with anything in the Valiant Universe to pick up this series.
Imagine an immortal Conan The Barbarian. He fights to protect his village, his nation, the world, the universe. He "dies". When he "dies", he recuperates in the presence with his first love, and his children, all of whom died tragically thousands of years ago. He gets to relax and enjoy their company, and then he has to fight his way through a Hellscape in order to return to the world of the living.
This book could have easily been cloying or boring. Instead, I enjoyed the back and forth between the peaceful family scenes, and the escape through Hell. I also really appreciated that, apart from mentioning that Mister Darque (the worst villain in the Valiant Universe) was the one who killed him, we see him battling a whole new set of demons, and when he wakes up, we're presented with a completely different scenario from when the character last "died".
I'm excited to see where this series goes.
Imagine an immortal Conan The Barbarian. He fights to protect his village, his nation, the world, the universe. He "dies". When he "dies", he recuperates in the presence with his first love, and his children, all of whom died tragically thousands of years ago. He gets to relax and enjoy their company, and then he has to fight his way through a Hellscape in order to return to the world of the living.
This book could have easily been cloying or boring. Instead, I enjoyed the back and forth between the peaceful family scenes, and the escape through Hell. I also really appreciated that, apart from mentioning that Mister Darque (the worst villain in the Valiant Universe) was the one who killed him, we see him battling a whole new set of demons, and when he wakes up, we're presented with a completely different scenario from when the character last "died".
I'm excited to see where this series goes.
crookedtreehouse's review against another edition
2.0
I appear to be in the minority of people who've been reading The Wrath Of The Eternal Warrior. I loved the premise of the previous volume, and was very intrigued to see where "Labyrinth" would take the story.
Unfortunately, while I enjoyed the balance of serene family moments and escaping a torturous hellscape in "Risen", I didn't at all care for the melodramatic family tension or the escaping a torturous labyrinth in this volume.
It's tough to write a cool, calculating villain in comics. Their plots need to be incredibly complex, and their intelligence needs to either be absolute genius, if you're going to play the story straight, or incompetent buffon, if you're going for either humor or a Silver Age feel. I found the villain in this book boring. I didn't care about their motivation. I didn't think the labyrinth that they set was at all interesting. And I thought the family aspect fell completely flat.
The art in the fifth issue was such a departure from Valiant's usual style. It had the urgent violence of [b:Crossed, Vol. 1|7720278|Crossed, Vol. 1|Garth Ennis|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1268653282l/7720278._SY75_.jpg|10467414], and the wild movement of [a:James Stokoe|452015|James Stokoe|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]. I like it, but I don't think it really fits with the other parts of the series. I also thought this entire issue could have been better served by being just three pages long.
The rest of the Labyrinth story either needed to be longer and show us a more complicated, intriguing labyrinth, or compacted into a single issue. It was precisely the wrong length for the story.
I don't know who to recommend it too, though, again, it seemed to be a big hit with other people reading the story.
Unfortunately, while I enjoyed the balance of serene family moments and escaping a torturous hellscape in "Risen", I didn't at all care for the melodramatic family tension or the escaping a torturous labyrinth in this volume.
It's tough to write a cool, calculating villain in comics. Their plots need to be incredibly complex, and their intelligence needs to either be absolute genius, if you're going to play the story straight, or incompetent buffon, if you're going for either humor or a Silver Age feel. I found the villain in this book boring. I didn't care about their motivation. I didn't think the labyrinth that they set was at all interesting. And I thought the family aspect fell completely flat.
The art in the fifth issue was such a departure from Valiant's usual style. It had the urgent violence of [b:Crossed, Vol. 1|7720278|Crossed, Vol. 1|Garth Ennis|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1268653282l/7720278._SY75_.jpg|10467414], and the wild movement of [a:James Stokoe|452015|James Stokoe|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]. I like it, but I don't think it really fits with the other parts of the series. I also thought this entire issue could have been better served by being just three pages long.
The rest of the Labyrinth story either needed to be longer and show us a more complicated, intriguing labyrinth, or compacted into a single issue. It was precisely the wrong length for the story.
I don't know who to recommend it too, though, again, it seemed to be a big hit with other people reading the story.
crookedtreehouse's review against another edition
4.0
If you enjoyed the first volume of [b:Wrath of the Eternal Warrior, Volume 1: Risen|28159932|Wrath of the Eternal Warrior, Volume 1 Risen|Robert Venditti|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1539783611l/28159932._SY75_.jpg|48172715] but found volume two wo be a bit of a mess, as I did, then this is a welcome return to form. It turns out that all the backstory for the villain we met in volume two really didn't matter to the overall story, you could completely skip it, and just read volumes one and three, and have the whole story.
This is another story dealing with the Eternal Warrior's relationship with his first born son, and adds in a very bare bones Heirarchy Of Hell storyline akin to Sandman/Lucifer.
I recommend it for fans of Conan fantasy comics.
This is another story dealing with the Eternal Warrior's relationship with his first born son, and adds in a very bare bones Heirarchy Of Hell storyline akin to Sandman/Lucifer.
I recommend it for fans of Conan fantasy comics.
haunshaul's review against another edition
5.0
This might be the best run in the entire Valiant canon.
jsjammersmith's review against another edition
4.0
If a man falls, why does he bother picking himself back up? I'm not sure I can offer a universal answer, but I can at least find my own answer.
Robert Venditti sets up a fascinating and sheerly epic character in this first volume and I can't wait to see where the Eternal Warrior goes from here. dying over and over again at the hands of demons and monsters is a fascinating premise, but the reason the man stands up and continues through the pain is why I can't wait for the second volume.
Robert Venditti sets up a fascinating and sheerly epic character in this first volume and I can't wait to see where the Eternal Warrior goes from here. dying over and over again at the hands of demons and monsters is a fascinating premise, but the reason the man stands up and continues through the pain is why I can't wait for the second volume.
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