Posted in: Comics, Review | Tagged: Crystal Frasier, Diego Galindo, Dynamite Entertainment, fantasy, Mohan, morgan hickman, pathfinder, Pathfinder: Spiral of Bones, sci-fi, Starfinder, Tom Garcia

Pathfinder Spiral of Bones #1 Review: High Fantasy Fun for People Who Like RPG's

Valeros, Seoni, and Merisiel arrive in Kaer Maga and run into an old friend of Valeros, Imrijka. They go to a tavern together while waiting on Ezren and Harsk, whom are in catacombs beneath the city. Things go sideways for Ezren and Harsk, and the other four go after them, only to run into monster-shaped troubles of their own.

Pathfinder: Spiral of Bones #1 provides a deep fantasy adventure, practically tailor-made for the audience who plays RPG's (like Pathfinder itself) and MMO's. As such, it doesn't ease you into its world. The book starts off with Valeros in mid-battle with a troll whose guts are hanging out. You quickly discover that last detail was of the troll's own doing, as it is a gore-reading mystic.

The characters are all fantasy archetypes, but their personalities are big enough to make them distinct. Valeros is a muscle-headed braggart, but he's an entertaining muscle-headed braggart. Seoni is an aloof mystic, but she's a quirky aloof mystic.

There is some slight drama about who's sleeping with whom that feels incredibly superfluous. Also, the RPG-esque ability to heal almost any wound with the right potion or spell does drain a lot of the tension and drama out of the battle.

The Starfinder backup story has a cool moment with a space-dragon, but it's so brief that it doesn't have a lot to offer unless you're already familiar with that canon. Diego Galindo and Mohan's artwork holds together well in this section.

Tom Garcia's artwork in the main story is up for the task. There isn't a lot of detail except on the occasional suit of armor or scroll. The monsters look cool, and each character is distinct. It won't dazzle you, and the inking isn't great. However, the overall product looks good. Morgan Hickman's color work is especially bright and appealing, so it adds an extra bit of flare to the visuals.

Pathfinder: Spiral of Bones #1 is a solidly enjoyable fantasy tale. It doesn't do anything unique, but it has plenty of charm to ride upon. I can recommend this one. Feel free to check it out.

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