Written by Dan Wickline; Joe Brusha; & Ralph Tedesco
Art by Gus Vasquez; Garry Henderson; Paolo Pantalena; Nei Raffino; & Alphabet Soup’s Jim Reddington
Cover Art “A” by Al Rio
SUMMARY:
Published by Zenescope Entertainment for April 2008, this eleven-page teaser is set during the Abbasid Dynasty, at a time when Baghdad is the world’s largest city. At the port of Al Jahra, the legendary swashbuckler, Sinbad, meets the beautiful sorceress, Samelia, in a fateful encounter with the tyrannical Captain Orland. The back-up feature is a four-page preview of the next issue: Sinbad and the Eyes of Fire, Part One. Seeking the Sunfury Amulet on a volcanic island, Sinbad and his new shipmates are startled by a hostile welcoming party.
Note: The interior front cover has a thumbnail reveal of the variant (Cover B) by artists Romano Molenaar and Nei Ruffino.
REVIEW:
Strangely, this comic presents a night-and-day difference re: continuity. The less-than-promising teaser has decent dialogue (Sinbad is very much a macho blowhard), but the cheap artwork is too rudimentary. Make no mistake: by swapping out art teams, the visuals for the Issue # 1 preview vastly surpass the teaser. The stark improvement takes a few moments to distinguish the same characters (minus Sinbad) between Issue # 0 and the preview. As for the preview’s writing, it, too, seems impressively upgraded. Artist Al Rio’s “Cover A” also delivers a solid asset. If anything, this issue is unique, as readers can see this series simultaneously at its potential best and evidently its worst.
ADDITIONAL CONTENT:
There’s a stellar two-page spread of the cover reveal for 1001 Arabian Nights: The Adventures of Sinbad # 1. Among the ads, there are several full-page cover reveals, including a two-page spread for Grimm Fairy Tales Presents: Beyond Wonderland # 0.
BRIAN’S 10-STAR RATING: 4½ Stars
