GRAPHIC NOVELS

Starslayer: The Log of the Jolly Roger

(text & illus.). Dark Horse. May 2017. 240p. ISBN 9781506702797. pap. $24.99; ebk. ISBN 9781630088118. SF
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In the first century CE, Celtic swordsman Torin Mac Quillon is snatched from certain death at the hands of Roman invaders and brought to a dystopian far future by beautiful scientist/adventurer Tamra. As captain of the spaceship Jolly Roger, she needs his help on a gravely important mission. With the Sun gone nova and habitable territory in the solar system becoming scarcer, Earth's many colonies are at war. Tamra seeks to reunite the scattered pieces of an amulet containing the secret of an ancient power able to save humanity. Originally a pioneering work in the 1980s independent comics boom, this edition is based on a "director's cut" from 1995, with new lettering and coloring and two additional chapters. Grell's (Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters) art from this period is notable for its realism and beauty. While the grainy reproduction and dark colors it receives here lend a not-inappropriate grittiness, they obscure the work's admirable detail and delicacy.
VERDICT Imperfectly presented, but with a bit more ambition than might first be apparent, this volume is worthwhile for fans of sf, action-adventure, and 1980s nostalgia.
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