I picked up Niobi: She is Death #1 based on the cover alone. It's simply gorgeous and one of the best I've seen since I got back into comics a few years back. The character looks appropriately strong, interesting and I wanted to know more of her story based solely based on the image alone.


After reading the comic didn't quite land for me as I would have hoped. I'm a huge fan of Blood Realm (Alterna) and Dragon Age. Both franchises have a dark fantasy vibe. Niobe also appears to be a dark fantasy story but it appears to be covering too much ground in a single issue. This title may be better suited as a graphic novel or at the very least a 48 page 1st installment.

I haven't read the Witcher or played the games but Niobi reminds me of what I imagine Geralt to be like. Niobi is strong, stoic and is downright brutal at points in the issue. All of this makes for a cool antagonist but it's a generic character type we've all seen before in fiction. It's during the times where I should felt excited that I found myself bored.

What I do like is that this is a hard fantasy setting with a predominantly Black cast of characters. There aren't a lot of fantasy comics that feature Black Characters in lead roles so It's nice to see this level of representation.

There is some worldbuilding and action sequences but I didn't put the book down with a strong reaction positive or negative. I think that there is potential for a great story here but I believe that the comic needs to be either slowed down to reestablish the characters for new readers or released in bigger installments. Niobe is a decent introduction to this world but time will tell if it reaches it's potential.


Rating 7/10

Addendum

I went to post the review on comicroundup.com and discovered that Niobe: She is death is a continuation of a prior mini-series. Having this new information It changed my perspective a bit.
I still stand by my initial review but I figured that my modified thoughts were worth sharing.

Niobe being a sequel hurts this book. The comic doesn't recap the initial series or refer to it in any direct fashion. This leads me to conclude that _ the creative team assumed that I read the first series. In my initial reading of the comic, I felt that I got dropped into the middle of the story and it turned out this was the case. A lot of what shaped Niobe is probably in the prior series and without any context or a recap, you're alienating new readers.

There are three series that I'm currently reviewing that handle being follow-ups beautifully, Bloodrealm by Robert Geronimo, Chrononauts - American Jesus: The New Messiah both by Mark Millar.

BloodRealm: Vol 2 is totally disconnected from the first installment and is treated as a standalone series. The POV characters aren't even the same between BloodRealm vol: 1 and 2. What connects the series thematically is the world the story resides om/

The other series, American Jesus and Chrononauts are both sequels but what stands out about those books is that you'd have no idea that they were follow-ups unless you were familiar with the original series. Those books are completely standalone and begin as if they are #1 issues of new IP. Niobe feels like issue #4 of an ongoing series without a recap.

It's not a terrible way to go if you're invested in the comic but it's hard for new readers if you're dropped into the middle of the story. more