Soulfire #2 – Review

By: J.T. Krul (writer), Jason Fabok (artist), John Starr (colorist)

The Story: Aw, shucks, Onyx—can’t we all just try to get along?

The Review: Probably Krul’s most self-defeating weakness is his inability to deliver a story that reaches beyond the expected or cliché.  While the source material for Soulfire seems like it never had much in the way of original thought to begin with, Krul had the opportunity to break that trend in this third volume of the series, and he has squandered it disappointingly.  So far, the title reads like a steady jumble of classic fantasy tropes, a prime example of formulaic writing.

I confess I’ve never read the other volumes of Soulfire, but I can only imagine the war between Sethoru and Rahtumi made the bulk of its previous plots.  So it’s rather frustrating to see Krul opening that can of worms again, especially since the two races only just started their integration.  Had we seen signs of discontent between them, maybe a revisit to their old antagonism would work, but by all appearances, the transition has gone smoothly, to the relief of all.

All of which makes the Sethoru’s decision to follow Onyx at the end an inexplicably unwise choice, especially since Onyx is a deranged, babbling, egomaniacal racist.  With her newfound powers she strikes not only the Rahtumi she hates, but her own people as well, essentially coercing them to depart from the beautiful, peaceful kingdom they’ve only begun to appreciate in favor of a life full of big, snarling, winged leeches.

While Onyx is clearly a one-note villain designed to be disliked (but only in a distant sort of way, as frankly, you don’t really give a hoot what she gets up to), the rest of the title’s cast don’t venture much beyond their types.  Even Grace, one of the most important leads, shows so little personality other than “determined warrior princess” that she’s not much more than a glorified extra in terms of character depth.

Soulfire #1 – Review

By: J.T. Krul (writer), Jason Fabok (penciller), John Starr (colorist)

The Story: With all that magic, you’d think you’d be able to whip up a meal that isn’t vodka.

The Review: Considering Aspen MLT was cofounded by the late Michael Turner, one of the more distinctive artists in the comics biz, it’s no wonder their titles tend to look far more impressive than they read.  Not to say their comics are completely insubstantial, story-wise; it just seems like they tend to base their series in the most formulaic of plots, using them as a vehicle for splashy artwork than for serious storytelling.

You can’t find any better evidence of this trend than Soulfire having Krul handle writing duties.  He can always be depended upon to deliver the plot in logical, well-paced fashion, but he lacks either the chops or inspiration to do so in any way that isn’t predictable.  He also offers dialogue equally as needlessly fraught and melodramatic as he does on anything else he writes: “Grace, must you always interfere?  It will be the death of you—sooner than you might expect.”

Certainly he’s not helped by the fact that issue serves primarily as a summation of events from the previous Soulfire titles, a somewhat redundant effort, since the issue comes with a fairly effective recap page.  Even though I have no familiarity whatsoever with the series, I still find it more annoying than useful that every character spends time recalling the past: the conflict between the Rahtumi and Sethoru races over their dwindling magic; Malikai returning magic to the world as the Bringer of Light; and the infant alliance between the two races.