Suspended Animation Review

Scion V. 6 (reprinting CrossGen issues 34-39)/153 pgs. & $17.95 from Checker Book Publishing, principal artist, Jim Cheung; Ron Marz, writer/sold in comics shops and at www.checkerbpg.com.

Imagine the 'knights and damsels' comic strip Prince Valiant sprinkled with pseudo light sabers and aliens and you've pictured Scion, a comic book series that ran for thirty-nine issues before its original publisher went out of business.

Scion: Royal Wedding republishes the last six issues of the monthly series as a trade paperback. These issues recount the convoluted tale of a forced marriage between members of two warring peoples. But plot and subplots that verge on soap opera overkill are restrained by the author, and Scion reads like a fantasy novel.

Restraint is the key word is this review. If you are looking for long, epic, bloody battles laced with lots of preliminary action, you won't find it here. What you will find is lots of dialog sprinkled with a sword fight or two, solid characterization, and enough back-story to make everything interesting.

You'll also find reality-based art that well serves its story. It is, however, not spectacular art. Everything needed to tell a story visually is well done, but the artists, at least at this point in their careers, are not the next, hot-new-things in the fickle world of comics fandom.

If you've noticed that the terms "well serves" and "interesting" are average terms, you’ve understood the nuances of this review. If, however, you believe Scion is not here recommended for readers, you are mistaken.

Average is not bad. It means that half of the titles published are poor compared to Scion.

Although it lacks the original vision of a Tolkein, or an original point of view (i.e. style), Scion is a solid bit of adventure storytelling that deserves the attention of fantasy fans.

Michael Vance

Check out Dark Corridor #1 for two Michael Vance short stories at www.mainenterprises.ecrater.com.

Scion Vol 6 Royal Wedding TPB