Fantasy series are too often burdened with the
goal of world-building, causing a struggle between characters and the land they
inhabit. This might entice fans of the genre, but it's not so inviting to a
casual audience. Zubkavich remedies this by letting his world just be, allowing
his characters to burst from the pages and dictate the action and setting. His
two cartoonish, crass mercenaries-a feisty, red-headed
Scottish dwarf and a calm, bald, tall guy-take a
seat-of-your-pants roller coaster ride that grabs everything in its path, grinds
it up, and flings it aside with a fury. Whether facing law enforcement, death
cultists, demons, or evil fairies, the result is always the
same-bombastic chaos. Laugh out loud humor comes from
character quips and tangents, as well as the grotesque and the
absurd-tall guy wields an anachronistic and unexplained hand
gun that's the source of many laughs-incorporated into Huang's
well-executed action sequences. It's like a sword and sorcery buddy movie
channeling Milk and Cheese. This lavish edition collects the first 11 issues of
the comic with previous short stories featuring the mercenaries, and an activity
section with puzzles and other delights-paper doll fans, take
note.<br /><br />