Mortifera Issue # 1

By Stephan Frost

Website:  http://mortifera.net

Brought to you by OBS reviewer Albert

*Beware of possible Spoilers*

Synopsis: 

Catherine Gregor and her brother Ethan are now the only Demon Hunters left in medieval Europe. The malicious demon Kanisus slaughtered the Mortifera, and its leader Elias Gregor. Upon exacting an age old vendetta, Kanisus stole every vial of Demon Blood from the Mortifera, thereby allowing him to summon thousands of Demons from Hell. To avenge their father Elias and retrieve the stolen Demon Blood, Catherine and Ethan look to Hell to summon a Demon of their own… (Mortifera.net)

Review:

This issue of Mortifera deals mainly with the story setup. The main characters of the story, Catherine and Ethan Gregor, are the last two Mortifera, or Demon Hunters. All the rest were killed by a malicious demon. To combat this demon, they summon Durin, another powerful demon.

Unfortunately, the book ends there. There’s not a lot of story that can be told in the 28 pages of a single comic. In this case, there’s no story at all. It’s all back story. At most, we’re introduced to the players – Kanisus (the demon), Catherine (the dedicated demon hunter), Ethan (her less than enthusiastic brother) and Durin (a demon who just wants out of hell).

The comic does show promise with some great artwork and a high attention to detail, but I can’t help but wish they had just gotten on with the story. If they had started with the summoning of Durin and then introduced the rest as it was needed, a lot more story could be told in the same number of pages. Although I do enjoy a good story, some action would be appreciated.

Oh, I also hope they change the lettering for the Durin. A black text box with dark red lettering is no doubt supposed to show the hellish qualities of the demon’s voice. Instead, it just makes it hard to read.