Posted in: Comics, Review | Tagged: aaron dempski-bowden, Kevin Enhart, sci-fi, space marines, Tazio Bettin, Titan comics, warhammer, warhammer 40k

Warhammer 40k Deathwatch #1 Advance Review: Big Bland Turtle Men

The Deathwatch are Space Marines that exist on the edge of known space. They are meant to protect the Imperium from the aliens beyond. Many of the Deathwatch are becoming restless, but their thirst for action may just be sated soon.

I believe I've implied this before, but I'm no Warhammer player. The lore sounds interesting in just how expansive it is, but I've never really gotten into it.

Having not followed the other Titan Comics Warhammer miniseries, I can't tell you if the characters in this comic have been around before. If they have anything resembling a personality, it's not shown in this comic.

This comic is quite boring.

We are given the roles of these specific Space Marines. Then we just follow around a few of these turtle-men for a bit. They chase an alien thing and talk about honor and being bored.

This comic is very boring.

The reader is given no reason to give half a care about any of these figures. They don't say anything of interest. Even knowing some of the Warhammer lore, the Space Marines are zealot fascists anyway, so that doesn't help me any. They could at least be interesting zealot fascists.

Sweet Christmas, this comic is frigging boring.

It really comes off as one of those license comics where you must bring the interest with you, because it's sure as hell not going to give you any. If you're not really into Warhammer, you won't find anything to grab you in this book. Even if you do like the franchise, wouldn't you like something more engaging than this?

Tazio Bettin, who provided the art to the previous Warhammer comic I reviewed last year, does the best he can with the awful visual design of this world. Mileage is subjective and all that, but the turtle armor just looks so ridiculous. Each plate and detail is lovingly crafted, but it's so damn busy. Kevin Enhart's color work, again, does the best it can with the palette for which this universe calls, but the overall chromatic design is unexciting.

Warhammer 40k: Deathwatch #1 is a very dull experience. The narrative is DOA. The art and color tries its best with what this franchise gives. Nothing about this is remotely engaging. Give this one a pass. Even if you like Warhammer, you deserve better storytelling than this.

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