Image Comics reviews – Beware the Eye of Odin #1, Nocterra #11

Beware the Eye of Odin #1

Fantasy isn’t exactly the easiest comic book genre to carve out a unique adventure. They invariably revolve around a quest with a group of colorful characters trying to function as one to reach their goal.

Beware the Eye of Odin has enough fresh wrinkles to avoid feeling like a slightly different shade of the same old fantasy epic.

Helgi has just learned a terrible truth. The stories of gods, trolls, ogres and curses was all true. Now he’s tasked with delivering an eye to its owner to avoid being cursed. That’s not a new scenario for Helgi as he’s lived under the specter of being cursed since his birth.

Helgi’s party is hardly traditional. Stigr was a formidable warrior who has largely avoided combat since losing his left arm. And Kadlin thinks she’s a Valkyrie.

While he’d rather journey solo, Helgi reluctantly accepts their aid. That was a smart decision as Helgi quickly finds the road ahead treacherous and more than he can handle alone.

Writer Doug Wagner does a solid job of establishing the characters with surprising development to start touching on their insecurities and flaws. The creatures the trio encounter are pretty cleverly rolled out as well.

Artist Tim Odland has a welcoming style displaying plenty of personality with the leads. Odland has no trouble with action scenes, rendering them cleanly and easy to follow.

Likewise, colorist Michelle Madsen uses cheery and bright colors to set an inviting atmosphere.

It’s just the first issue so there’s plenty of opportunities to visit lands with other inhabitants, but it’s a little discouraging there’s no characters or color in the mix.

Beware the Eye of Odin gets off to a great start thanks to its quickly defined characters, conflict and dazzling art. Hopefully the rest of this adventure will be just as thrilling.

Rating: 8 out of 10