Books

Legends: The Enchanted

By Leroy Douresseaux
July 7, 2010 - 20:21

Legends: The Enchanted cover image is courtesy of barnesandnoble.com.

Legends: The Enchanted is an original hardcover graphic novel from Radical Publishing and created, written, and painted by illustrator Nick Percival (Dead of Night).  Legends: The Enchanted features folklore and fairy tale characters such as Little Red Riding Hood and Hansel & Gretel turned into twisted, leather-clad, blade-wielding dark warriors.  The story is set in a creature-infested world where foul magic, nature, and technology are apparently in constant conflict.

Jack (the Giant-Killer) and Red Hood (a slayer of werewolves) are among “the Enchanted,” a group of supernatural immortals protected from harm by special charms.  Now, a creature called The Hag has found a way to neutralize the charms’ powers.  Using the muscle of her son, the ultimate mama’s bad boy, The Troll, The Hag systematically begins to destroy the Enchanted.  Now, only a small band of them are willing to fight back, but The Hag isn’t alone.  Will Red Hood and her daughter Verity, Jack, Hansel & Gretel, Goldilox & Bear, and Rapunzel be able to tell friend from foe in time to stop the conspiracy?  And which of them will survive?

THE LOWDOWN:  As I said in my review of Radical’s $1 preview issue of Legends: The Enchanted, published a few months ago, creator Nick Percival’s art looks like an amalgamation of John Bolton and H.R. Giger.  Because Percival visually structures this in a traditional comic book format, the art ultimately looks more like one of Bolton’s painted comics works, but dark, grittier, nastier, and crazier.

Some readers may be put off by the strangeness of this wild, high concept, but the more you read, the more you will want to read.  The story does drag a little early in the middle acts.  Once I got past the middle, I tore through the rest of the book because Percival races the story to its conclusion.  It’s like riding shotgun with a crazy speed demon.  The freakish and the weird don’t always result in highly entertaining comic books, but it does here.

POSSIBLE AUDIENCE:  Readers of steampunk and horror may enjoy the dark and edgy, rough and tumble Legends: The Enchanted.

B+

 

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12