“Battlebooks”: Review of the Showdown Three comics enter. One comic lives.

Showrunner, screenwriter and comics creator Geoffrey Thorne has launched an ambitious indie comics project: start three different comics, and let the sales determine which title continues on as a series.

Each of these stories starts out fast, at the edge of the action, thrown into the mystery of what’s going on and who’s involved, providing an immediate curiosity about what’s going on and who these characters are. The excitement and action are there from the first panel, and it’s easy to get frustrated at how quickly each issue concludes, leaving you wanting more.

All of these comics has something for everyone: a story that grabs you from the start, an art style that complements the story being told, and a cliffhanger ending that makes you want to read the next issue right now. Each one is different enough in both story genre and presentation to appeal to a broad range of comics readers, but catch is, not everyone will be able to see how these stories pan out and conclude, because that’s not the point of the Battlebooks.

Three comics enter. One comic lives.

Battlebook 1: Pilgrim

We meet Jonah and his girlfriend Kai, and Kai is pushing Jonah to show her something special, to perform a demonstration to prove to her that he’s not, well, prone to prevarication (or at least telling tall tales). Because Jonah’s a magician, and Kai is skeptical.

But the ritual Jonah performs to show her what’s really in the world doesn’t go as planned…

Battlebook 2: The Return of Cadre One

A military assault, a planetary invasion intent upon removing the indigenous population to eliminate any threats to the extraction of resources. An overwhelmed and desperate resistance force determined to protect their people and homeland. As the situation becomes more desperate, all that’s left is faith in a child’s story, a legend: find the beacon, light it, and summon heroes.

What happens after the legend proves true?

Battlebook 3: Redjack

An armored sentinel patrols the farthest edges of known space, under the watchful eye of handlers and commanding officers.

Looking for danger is one thing. Finding something unexplainable is another.

Three very different stories, featuring very different characters, each one likely to appeal to different groups of comics fans. Which one gets to continue depends on which one sells better by the Spring Equinox. That one winning comic will see subsequent issues, with compelling art and story, continuing to a satisfying conclusion. Then, hopefully we’ll continue to get more stories from Geoffrey’s backlog of ideas!

Personally, I’m hoping “Return of Cadre One” wins. I was a huge fan of the “Alien Legion” series back in the day, and the way this one feels reminds me of that series. And yes, I’m voting with my cash.

Want to hear more about Geoffrey as a storyteller, and his ideas and goals for the Battlebooks? Tune into Slice of SciFi 874, and listen to the interview.