By Doug Moench, Kelley Jones & John Beatty (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-56389-111-5 (hardback) ISBN: 978-1563891403 (trade paperback)
Released under the “Elseworlds†banner, where familiar properties are mixed with new or exotic genres outside regular continuities, this tale is a full-on traditional fantasy set in a feudal, mystic world of flying castles, wizards and monsters. Lilandra and Majister are sorcerers locked in a lifelong duel with an evil wizard. Sacrificing their lives and that of a baby they have mystically conjured, the pair create a fearsome beast that will eventually inflict their revenge on the terrifying Dark Joker and save the humans of the rural idyll known as The Wild.
But before the bat-winged monster can rescue innocent mankind from Dark Joker’s depredations, a beautiful, doomed woman named Saressa must tame the beast and teach it the humanity its tragic upbringing has deprived it of…
Although some of Jones and Beatty’s best artwork, this is not one of author Moench’s best scripts, managing somehow to be both heavy-handed and flimsy at the same time. The fantasy milieu is quite forced at times, his dialogue florid (even for Moench!) and the story seems unsure of its audience; injecting utterly unnecessary moments of gory excess into a solid plot that could with a little judicious pruning be quite recommendable for a younger readership.
Pretty but flawed, this is a book only really for the committed fan and collector.
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