After my experiences at the Diamond retailer summit, I want to re-focus my blogs on comics from some of the smaller comic publishers. Marvel and DC get enough attention, dammit! I know Dark Horse is a Diamond premiere publisher, but with how gracious and personable they were at the summit I think they’re deserving to have some more promotion for some of their smaller new titles. One that caught my attention recently was the cyber-activist series “Hellcyon.”

Written and illustrated by Lucas Marangon (Star Wars – Tag & Bink), “Hellcyon” follows an emerging civil war on an off-world colony, shortly after the new settlement has its first democratic election and the Earth army retaliates. A guerrilla group known as the Suicide Division, formed out of Halycon’s student union, obtains stolen military hardware and the motley crew must unite to help prevent the military from massacring the burgeoning population.

The first issue is sporadic, but nevertheless shows promise, mainly from the strength of Marangon’s strong art. The man can draw a fast-paced action sequence that literally races off the page with transforming motorcycle mech-robots. At its best, you get a mixture of the rebel activists in “AKIRA,” the hyper-cool robots in “Robotech,” and a hint of the dystopian outlook of “Transmetropolitan.”

At first Marangon’s artistic strength doesn’t crossover to the basic character designs, and it does take a while to get accustomed to his seemingly derivative style. However, by the end of the issue, it’s refreshing to have an non-Japanese comic artist celebrate mechs so blatantly. It’s biggest achievement is that it leaves the reader thinking “Hellcyon” is cool, which is always a plus for any sci-fi series. The story might need a little fine tuning, but it still has three issues to do that. It nice to see a Dark Horse mini series that deserves your attention, so don’t let “Hellcyon” pass you up.

-Jon

Tags: Dark Horse Comics, Hellcyon, Lucas Marangon

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