Pendragon: The Legend Foretold Book I Review - RIB10

Pendragon: The Legend Foretold Book I Review

Disclaimer: For the sake of transparency I have to say that I reached out to the creator of my own volition to review this project because I thought it looked cool. I did not ask for compensation for this review although the author offered me the hardcover as a gift. I also, of my own volition, provided feedback for the design and layout of the campaign page for no compensation after I had asked to review this book, as an afterthought I had upon seeing the campaign page and because I am a cognitive psychology research assistant at the university I attend. I’d like to emphasize that all opinions are my own, although the author has asked that I keep out some key spoilers and that I relay what the main themes and project as a whole are.

TLDR: This indie comic is superb, the writing is to my taste and balances character styles well. The premise is compelling, the plot kept me engaged, and the art is eye-candy. All in all it’s a worthy project to support and refreshing to see as a high quality indie creation.

        What I’m reviewing today is an indie comic project I saw on X from an account called Wulfsbane Comics. I wasn’t previously familiar with this creator nor his work, but from the posts I saw, I decided to keep my eye on the project as it appealed to me with its eye-catching artwork and Arthurian premise (the artists, Karly Engracia and David Schmelling, are super skilled). When I had seen that the Kickstarter for the project went live I asked the creator if I could review his work. Currently, the coloring and lettering aren’t complete for the majority of the work so I used half my screen to read the script and the other half to pull up the inked pages, although there were some complete pages so I had ample reference to imagine the book in its future form.

        The premise is of a young man, David Gracie, a descendant of King Arthur who must take up his legacy and stop an impending evil. On the surface it sounds simple, but this initial 78-page offering is the first part of a planned tetralogy. The dialogue is better than I thought it would be, not because I don’t trust the creator or anything but because it’s always a pleasant surprise when I see the sort of faux Old English Final Fantasy style dialogue done well, I’m a real sucker for how Tactics, XIV, and other such JRPGs are written and so to see that here was great. I am aware that others disagree with this and so I want to assure the reader that this isn’t most of the book, the first parts take place in the past but the main character is someone who lives in the modern day, so for those who abhor the sort of stylistic rendition I mentioned above it’s not something to worry about.

        Speaking of style, I want to bring up the influences for this work, which are presented in a handy picture the creator made for the ongoing campaign page:

        There’s a lot to love here, although I have to admit I haven’t experienced Claymore, Sword of the Stranger, or what I assume is the Aaron run on Thor (I know, I’ll get around to these things one day). The dark fantasy inspiration threw me for a loop because it takes a bit for the book to show some of those elements, they appear overtly in the backstory for a supporting character and it was really a standout section for the work, the Elden Ring influence shows up in the art style pretty nicely. I have to say though that so far Pendragon hasn’t gone to the depths of something like Berserk, nor is there the romance or adventure of FFX, not yet anyway. This isn’t the author’s fault, this first book is largely expositional and most of it was laying down the groundwork for who the characters are and why the events are set in motion, the book concludes with a series of events that very clearly tell the reader where events are going to go (and admittedly it gets darker right there at the end).

        What I mean to say by all this is that the book isn’t dark but the potential is there (and if I’m being honest a lot of this is probably my perception due to looking at inked instead of colored pages). The author knows how to write and the art team is very talented. I saw inklings of how dark the story could get and encourage the author to plunge those depths, but for an exploratory and, again, expositional venture this first book does a very good job. Even if Pendragon doesn’t get darker, this sort of experience is still really good, it reminds me of those really intense and creepy parts in the Wheel of Time books, which aren’t dark overall but have those nice surprise parts that hit even harder for it.

The author wanted me to mention that the key themes for this work are those of dreams and mentorship. I saw more of the former than the latter since David’s journey has just begun but that isn’t to say either are lacking. The theme of dreams is very prominent though I have my critiques on David’s portrayal when the plot impetus first pushes him to take up his quest. He wants to be his own man and although there’s a nice page or two where he hesitates on the call to action I don’t feel this is explored enough. The author does, however, spend a good amount of time on establishing why David feels what he does and acts for himself. I’m an old-school comics sort of person (not to mention a psych/philosophy buff), I would’ve loved dense text showing David’s inner thoughts and fears but for a modern work and in a time of modern tastes we get something that makes sense and propels the reader along before they get bored, and this is the right move because the book is 78 pages and I don’t see what could’ve been cut to make way for those things (my personal preference is to stuff the pages that already exist with it but that execution is tough).

The theme of mentorship is something I can speak less on, the book handles this in a pretty genius way to make up for the lack of direct mentorship that David experiences due to this work being expositional. There’s a short side story in here from a character that is meant to inspire a character who is then meant to mentor David. This section was probably my favorite part of the book because it connects well to the plot, invokes core themes, and centers around a real standout character. The artwork is superb, it has a super memorable double page spread and there’s a full page shot of something that really shows off what the artist can do and hints at how dark the book can go (and it can certainly go!). The side story is great and ties back into the main plot in a way that really engages the reader.

I really look forward for more from the world of Pendragon, there are things I can’t mention here that make what comes next all the more exciting, from the author’s usage of elements of Celtic myth and the above inspirations to refresh the Arthurian fantasy we all know and love, to his staying true to heroic themes that we can all take inspiration from. I feel that David can become a real inspiration to people who happen to read his journey and once more I have to praise the art and all the other elements that come together to make something like this come to life.

Click here to back Pendragon on Kickstarter.

Nikhil Saxena

Founder, Destrier Studios

https://linktr.ee/destrierstudios