The Tower Chronicles: Geisthawk Volume 1 GN

Excellent story

The Tower Chronicles starts with an extended chase scene. A woman is running and screaming and seems to fear that she is about to be sexually assaulted or murdered. As the scene unfolds, we see that she is pursued by John Tower, that she's not quite human, and that Tower's motivation is not that of a street criminal. If this were a movie, the aftermath of the chase is where the title would light up the screen in towering letters.Two stories follow. The first begins with a Russian mobster hiring Tower to determine whether a traitor in his organization is actually as dead as his corpse would seem to suggest. Tower, we learn, is adept at tracking down people who manage to be both dead and not dead. The second story pits Tower against a serial killer who has baffled the FBI -- but then, the FBI devotes more of its energies to political terrorists than to vampires, so it isn't surprising it would privatize the investigation by hiring a specialist.The stories are conventional but entertaining. If this series is to work over the long haul -- and it might -- Tower's personality will need to be developed in greater detail. At this point depth of character has been sacrificed for action, but a final scene suggests that an ongoing plot thread will soon develop that should tell us more about what motivates Tower to battle the supernatural.The art is refreshingly bold, rich with vivid detail. It reminds me of the ghoulish art that used to grace titles like Eerie, except the production values are higher.

John Tower is a mercenary ghost/supernatural monster hunter on the trail of a ghostly mobster and a vicious serial killer he believes is a vampire. Tower is Legendary Pictures (the Hollywood studio responsible for films like 300 and the Chris Nolan Batman series) branching out into comics, developing possible future films in utero rather than relying on DC/Marvel to produce the comics first and then work with them on the feature length adaptation - which is a good idea. Several times during the course of the short book I felt that it was eminently cinematic and would appeal to a wide audience.You've got your handsome yet troubled leading man with a mysterious past, bags of money, and an interesting job that throws all manner of monsters and violence his way against a background of different locations, then you've got the attractive female FBI agent who has a kind of antagonistic relationship to the lead, and then you've got vampires in it which instantly gets the attention of x amount of people.And it's an entertaining comic. Matt "Grendel" Wagner does a fine job of taking this archetypal character and fashioning the beginnings of an interesting personality in this book and he's joined by 2000AD veteran and all-round comics artist extraordinaire Simon Bisley whose artwork is utterly gorgeous throughout. It's an action adventure story with supernatural elements and for the money it's entertaining. If this sounds like your bag you'll probably like it too. I for one enjoyed it and will be back for the second volume.

Reason for Reading: Seemed to include all the elements I look for in a good fantasy graphic and I did like the cover :-)This is a short novel at only 72 pages so it doesn't really have time to not be working at full force but I did find the "prologue" to be a bit confusing though it was certainly full of action. I wondered if perhaps it was going to be action with not much else but as the first real chapter begins action takes a back seat as John Tower is introduced to us as the supernatural bounty hunter he is and this time his client is basically the mob who wants to make certain someone is really dead. He takes the case but in the meantime a female detective on a serial killer case goes to Tower as a last resort, not that she believes in his supernatural mumbo-jumbo. Reluctant to help the police, as Tower has a mysterious background, but once he sees the case files he knows what he's up against and takes the case. It becomes an even more exciting story as he works these two cases very differently bringing each to a satisfactory conclusion and yet the book ends with a glimpse at mystery still to come in the next volume. The artwork is fantastic, the colour tones suit the mood, the violence is gross but not over the top and both John and Harwicke are certainly easy on the eyes. Looking forward to more backstory in the next volume, just why is John compelled to do this, and perhaps a longer book. 72 pages is over pretty fast.