Warlands Banished Knights #2
Previous Links: #1
Investment Talk: Since comic books are a big time investment and Hive has a lot of people interested in financial gain, I've decided to talk a bit about that in each of my reviews. Comic books attract a lot of people. Some only interested in money. Some in art. Some in story telling. Entertainment or any of the above. In this case I would say the potential for financial gain is minimal. There is some, considering it is a long out of print, not extremely high print run comic book. In fact, many people probably threw these out or mishandled them a long time ago as well since most indie comics from the 90s and early 2000s are seen as cheap and trash, making the supply even less. However, the interest in the IP does not seem to be there to drive up the demand. You could potentially find these for as little as $0.10 at stores. However you are unlikely to find them less than $2.00 online, often times much more. So potential for patient resellers is there. However I think the draw to this comic book is more about the art and story for the few of us interested, not financial.
The story so far: Greyson was a human soldier in the Myrish military during the last big war. He fell to the vampires and awakened while being dragged to a bonfire. He killed a lot of mortals that day but somewhat retained his humanity. Over the next 50 years he has killed many of his own kind, vampires, but is now losing control. Belmiro and Rosala have attempted to recruit in their bid for power in the vampire world.
This issue had a couple of covers just like the last, but this is the only one I have. it starts out with Greyson contimplating joining Belmiro. Rosala is being impatient and still thinking he will not join them. Belmiro holds out and shows much patience however.
Rosala goes out and talks to Greyson, managing to convince him to give it a shot. They go back to Belmiro who explains the plan a bit more. He already has many others on his side and they plan to attack Tessan, one of the vampire lords. In the war, Tessan was seen as a bit of a strategist. He also knew to cut his losses and abandon Malagen at the end. One can assume that he is positioned at the highest of ranks in the vampire world given his close proximity to Malagen in the war, his intelligence, and the rest of the highest ranking lords falling in the war.
On the way to attack Tessan, Belmiro and Rosala slip away while Greyson is dragging his food. This turns out to be a test. A group of rabid vampires attack Greyson because they want the human's blood. Greyson easily dispatches the group, impressing Rosala and satisfying Belmiro.
His food seems to not be long for this world however as she does receive a lot of wounds from the rabid vampires. Belmiro uses her to point out Greyson's stupidity for wanting that mortality back.
They leave the human behind when she dies. As they arrive the keep to meet the others, we see the human has awaken as a vampire. Assuming this is some kind of foreshadowing. Her importance however is yet to be seen.
Belmiro explains the plan to Greyson. They are going to sneak into the keep and attack from there. Greyson questions the obviousness. Belmiro essentially says, sure, Tessan knows it is coming. But there is nothing he can do about it.
When t hey arrive we get another name. Aram. He seems to be in charge of some of the vampires gathered and reports to Belmiro.
The two go off to discuss something and leave Rosala and Greyson behind to mingle. Greyson being known for killing vampires is confronted by a now emboldened lackey. Rosala tries to prevent it, but Greyson decides to make an example of this guy and knocks his teeth out. This stirs the rest and now Rosala and Greyson are surrounded by other vampires ready to attack them.
Greyson, Belmiro, and Rosala have joined more vampires with the plan to attack Tessan. It is clear that they will all turn on each other at some point during or after the attack. Greyson just made it happen a bit sooner!
Pretty sure Belmiro will come break this up since they haven't even begun the attack yet. But it also seems Rosala is taking a liking to Greyson. Perhaps they will be allies in the coming free for all? What about the new red head vampire? Is she going to hunt him down now for revenge? Will they even be able to penetrate Tessan's stronghold? He was after all a big strategist with a lot of power, surely he can fend off this rag tag group of vampires. Guess we will find out soon.
To Be Continued!
Also... this is my day 2 of the CTP 30 day challenge!