Tales of Honor #1 is out *****SPOILERS*****

All right, I went out today and picked up a copy of Tales of Honor #1. Here are my impressions and opinions of the first release.

First, I was surprised that the 4 covers released were actually variations from the artwork that was posted earlier. I was under the impression those were to be the covers for issues #1, #2, and #4 so I was pleasantly surprised. I ended up choosing the cover with the picture of Honor mountain climbing with Nimitz on her back. All the comments about those covers still apply, and now it leaves the next several covers to be discussed and critiqued vociferously once they are posted.

The first 6 pages were posted as a snippet, so nothing new there. I much prefer the drawing of Cordelia over the rendering on the Tales of Honor website. It's a matter of blonde hair over brown and the blonde wins from the fact that it is more canon. (I do like the Tales of Honor website's StateSec uniform tunic though.)

I do like the skinsuits and helmets and the bridge representation. They did a pretty good job of depicting battle damage and fatalities without becoming 'gory'.

I'm still not sure about Nimitz, he does not at all look 'cuddly'. More like a 'Give me a reason to rip off your face. Grrrr!. Some evolution to his overall look is hopefully forthcoming in future installments.

The crews initial response was good at representing the mistrust when they found Honor assigned as their CO, though Alistair didn't come off quite resentful enough.

I really like how they did the panel of the fleet in orbit around Hephaestus. (I'm not quite so sure about the station though, it looks like several islands floating in space rather than a space station.) But the ships look much more like canon with the whole cylindrical look with fore and aft hammerheads. Perhaps it's only the DD's and CL's that are all pointy with the fins.

I do think that Fearless made way too tight a turn following their ambush of D'Orville's flagship, but that could be a case of artistic license.

I can already hear the comment's by Pokermind about the shower scene, but it does do a good job of showing how she beat the crap out of Pavel. Though I wouldn't think her hair would be that long at the academy.

Also the jumps in time with the introduction to Paul and the ground battle with the Stilties are well done and would probably do pretty good in keeping someone new to the Honorverse interested in further issues.

Finally, the final panel of the doctor onboard Tepes deactiving Honor's implants is sufficiently enough of a cliff-hanger that even if I wasn't familiar with the story would make me look forward to the next issue.

All-in-all, after all of the concern over 'is it canon?' and the 'Oh my God, what are they thinking with that metallic blue monstrosity?' I am actually pretty impressed with the result. I will hedge my overall approval with a definite 'there is still room for improvement' but I think Tales of Honor has some definite potential and I am already looking forward to the next issue, which if you think about it is the whole point of the project to begin with. Kudos Top Cow, Evergreen, and RFC, I think you've earned it.

I'm encouraged by your review, but still cautious. Until my copy gets here (damn post office), I'll reserve judgement.

I pre-ordered all four issues, so at least I'm good to go for the next few months.

Just curious... how is it as a comic in general? Ignore, if you can, what you already know about the Honorverse and just try to treat it as something you just heard of and bought on a whim, or because it sounded interesting. I don't really know what comic people look for nowadays, so I'm just curious if you think it's worth recommending to comic fans who don't know about the Honorverse.

Borealis,

I agree with your points, and the design of the King Rodger in the grav lance scene is much more like what we would expect from the books. What I was disappointed to see was the missed opportunity to show the relative sizes between a CL like Fearless and a SD. From the panel where both are shown, Fearless only looks to be 1/2 or 1/3 the size of King Rodger. It reduces the impact of having Fearless take out the flagship single-handedly and doesn't give new readers a proper scale for ship sizes moving forward.

Hopefully in future editions we will see size disparity more correctly shown.

I was happy to see ads for the game and novels in the comic along with the concept art and wedge technical description at the end.

Megas wrote:Borealis,

I agree with your points, and the design of the King Rodger in the grav lance scene is much more like what we would expect from the books. What I was disappointed to see was the missed opportunity to show the relative sizes between a CL like Fearless and a SD. From the panel where both are shown, Fearless only looks to be 1/2 or 1/3 the size of King Rodger. It reduces the impact of having Fearless take out the flagship single-handedly and doesn't give new readers a proper scale for ship sizes moving forward.

Hopefully in future editions we will see size disparity more correctly shown.

I was happy to see ads for the game and novels in the comic along with the concept art and wedge technical description at the end.

Also on free site here http://tales-of-honor.com/comics/7/science-class-explains-it-all

Poker

Megas wrote:Borealis,

I agree with your points, and the design of the King Rodger in the grav lance scene is much more like what we would expect from the books. What I was disappointed to see was the missed opportunity to show the relative sizes between a CL like Fearless and a SD. From the panel where both are shown, Fearless only looks to be 1/2 or 1/3 the size of King Rodger. It reduces the impact of having Fearless take out the flagship single-handedly and doesn't give new readers a proper scale for ship sizes moving forward.

Hopefully in future editions we will see size disparity more correctly shown.

I was happy to see ads for the game and novels in the comic along with the concept art and wedge technical description at the end.

Agree with everything.

My review is on page 2 of this thread: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=5321

pokermind wrote:

Megas wrote:Borealis,

I agree with your points, and the design of the King Rodger in the grav lance scene is much more like what we would expect from the books. What I was disappointed to see was the missed opportunity to show the relative sizes between a CL like Fearless and a SD. From the panel where both are shown, Fearless only looks to be 1/2 or 1/3 the size of King Rodger. It reduces the impact of having Fearless take out the flagship single-handedly and doesn't give new readers a proper scale for ship sizes moving forward.

Hopefully in future editions we will see size disparity more correctly shown.

I was happy to see ads for the game and novels in the comic along with the concept art and wedge technical description at the end.

Also on free site here http://tales-of-honor.com/comics/7/science-class-explains-it-all

Poker

Actually the page that is in the comic itself has a half-page of text from OBS of details on the wedge, but they both have the same graphic.

Here is my review. I have been an avid of comic book fan, though it has been a few years since I last read one. So I will try to give the perspective of a comic fan.

The art is quite good. Some may find the facial features and limbs too smoothly curved, but it is a style common in graphic novels, and works well in the format. It will be familiar and comfortable to comic fans, as will the flow of text and speech. The pace moves fast enough to be enjoyable, and there is enough suspense to keep interest. The asynchronous storyline allows the writer to insert omniscient information when needed, and flashes of future action to entice readers. Comic fans will find many familiar comic art devices--the crease in Pavel's brow as he gloats over his evil plans; the streaks to indicate rapid motion; the clichéd spreadeagle position of Honor in her restraints. This is a comic that comic fans will enjoy.

The writers manage to insert a huge amount of information into a relatively few pages. In just six pages, they successfully tell the entire story of On Basilisk Station from the time Honor boards Fearless to the wargame success against the King Roger. Along the way we learn about Honor's empathic connection to Nimitz, the antipathy of the ship, that McKeon was passed over in favor of Honor, and the major modifications to the Fearless. We learn about patronage, prolong, missiles, grasers and lasers, the grav lance, energy torpedoes, sidewalls, and Horrible Hemphill's new school and the old school of naval tactics. Adapting a book to comic format requires that kind of compression, and the writers have done a very good job on that. There is a lot of information to be found in the graphics, too. For instance, we are not told about Honor's heavy gravity adaptation, but we see her changing the exercise room Sphinxian 1.35 to Terran 1.0 gees. We see the use of skin suits and restraints in space battle and exoarmor in ground battle, without unnecessary textual explanation. The art is detailed, and illustrates the story well.

There are things an ardent Honorverse fan may object to. Yes, the uniform is not canonical. Hephaestus station looks like a set of islands, complete with visible parks. Shipboard is more open and spatious than plausible. And the ships are a lot "busier" than described, with flanges and struts all over. But taken within the context of the comic (and especially from the view of a comic fan), those are small matters, and they fit into the comic story itself just fine. Regarding Nimitz, I don't think he is drawn too big. We do not get to see Nimitz in his perch on Honor, but the scale compared to Honor's legs is about what I expected (but I know others will disagree). The lack of obvious fur is disturbing, and the overall depiction does not match the cute and fuzzy description of the text. That is the one thing that I do wish were changed, because that contrast between appearance and lethal capacity is of moderate importance in later events.

But overall, I am quite satisfied with this first issue. It is a fine adaptation to a new medium, and I believe it will appeal to the fans of that medium. The story is told in an engaging manner, with enough images of action to satisfy the reader, while keeping to the canonical storyline. I am looking forward to the next issue, and I have high hopes for the future movie.

SWM... I'm glad you posted that review from the perspective of a comic fan. As I've mentioned elsewhere, it's been 35+ years since I've read a proper comic, aside from The Walking Dead and manga, so it's good to hear that it suits the medium.

I pretty much agree with everything you said (except Nimitz' size, but we already knew that*). I'm just thinking that doing the comic this way (the writing) might not be goos for subsequent issues, and I think it should settle down into a single major plotline and a couple of side plots, and leave it at that. Otherwise, I think it would be difficult for a non-Honorverse fan to follow all the back-and-forth.

*I could deal with his size better if he was that big *with* the fur.

In Tales of Honor when Honor assumed command she read from a digital set of orders. Was the RMN's seemingly long tradition of official letters being issued on paper dispensed with or was it forgotten? Just curious.

From OBS: “She reached into her tunic, and paper crackled, whispering from every speaker, as she broke the seals and unfolded her orders. "From Admiral Sir Lucien Cortez, Fifth Space Lord, Royal Manticoran Navy," she read in her crisp, cool voice, "to Commander Honor Harrington, Royal Manticoran Navy, Thirty-Fifth Day, Fourth Month, Year Two Hundred and Eighty After Landing. Madam: You are hereby directed and required to proceed aboard Her Majesty's Starship Fearless, CL-Five-Six, there to take upon yourself the duties and responsibilities of commanding officer in the service of the Crown. Fail not in this charge at your peril. By order of Admiral Sir Edward Janacek, First Lord of Admiralty, Royal Manticoran Navy, for Her Majesty the Queen."
She fell silent and refolded her orders without even glancing at the pickup. For almost five T-centuries, those formal phrases had marked the transfer of command aboard the ships of the Manticoran Navy. They were brief and stilted, but by the simple act of reading them aloud she had placed her crew under her authority, bound them to obey her upon pain of death.”

Also it seemed some of the panels showed the bridge as overly large or devoid of watch stations near the captains seat, much the way merchant ships command decks were described I believe. I think some of the panels later on in the comic did a good job of showing the close confines of a warship. I am not sure where on the ship that may have been.

I like how the ships were set against the stars and not drawn as if the stars were just dotted around the ship. I don't know how artist do that but I thought it was good. Especially the panel with Fearless running silent. At least it does with the iBook reader and zoom in and panning view.

Paper versus electronic is a pretty small matter. (Believe me, as a librarian primarily cataloging e-books these days! )

I mentioned the spatiousness of the ship in my review. Cramped ship scenes don't really work well in comics (or in movies). So I was not surprised at the size of the bridge. It's just one of those things that are different between mediums.