Captives #1 Review: Roll For Initiative With Fright Comics

By Alex Widen | Aug 9, 2016

Want to enter a classic realm of fantasy, mazes, and monsters? Then check out Captives, one of the launch titles of fledgling publisher Fright Comics!

Captives #1

Writer: Alexander Banchitta

Artists: Robert Ahmad & Vojislav Vasiljevic

Inker: Dan Parsons

Cover: Mike Dubisch

The sword and sorcery genre is one which has thrived for untold ages in prose fiction, film, and animation, but which seems to get short shift in comic books. Aside from the cult classic ElfQuest, Action Lab’s Princeless, and IDW Publishing’s licensed Dungeons & Dragons series, they can be few and far between. Seeking to help fill this void is Captives, which is one of the first new comics being offered by Alex Banchitta, who is both the creator and writer for the series.

Like most fantasy tales, Captives begins with a fairy tale of sorts. A father tells his two sons of the terrible curse which surrounds King Nelm’s castle. A cowardly soldier in a war long past sought to deceive the king with a spell and reenter his kingdom to claim Princess Agatha’s hand in marriage. Uncovering the ruse, Nelm had the soldier transformed into the terrible monster Zardhe and placed it at the center of a labyrinth. Any who sought Agatha’s hand had to slay the beast first.

The brothers eventually grow up and head to the site of Zardhe’s labyrinth, which is opened for all seekers once a year. The young Simon is still eager to slay the monster and save the princess like any classic young hero, while his elder brother Robin merely seeks to protect his brother and hopefully talk him out of this crusade. But it turns out they’re not the only potential champions awaiting the gate to open, and they soon run across an entire troupe of characters.

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Out of the lot of them, most of the focus goes to a leader of a squad of bandits named “Tor the Wicked.” He has a past history with Robin and seeks only plunder and conquest. Out of the woodwork come others, such as an archer named Falcon and a dwarf named Rowan. Rounding out the cast are a cooperative Paladin and Irwin the alchemist, who provides some additional exposition. But can they all survive the horde of monsters while being captives of the maze?

From cover to cover, this opening issue of Captives evokes the feeling of mythology and fantasy much like any iconic video game or role playing campaign does. The art certainly helps in this regard. Robert Ahmed seems to be a student of classic talents such as Sal Buscema and Jack Kirby, as his figures, poses, and layouts seem to be akin to such masters. It gives his work a timeless, legendary flair from the opening panels and never lets up.

Vasiljevic handles the “fairy tale” pages and wisely offers a different style from that of Ahmed and the main action. His work has a little more detail than Ahmed’s, which captures the full brutality of things like war or magic transformations. Both artists also have a keen eye for action as well as some unique and grotesque monster designs. As the main monster, the Zardhe is easily the best.

Captives plays to some very tried and true tropes of the fantasy genre, but Banchitta makes it work by embracing it with full gusto. Those who love seeing a group of rag tag heroes of varying classes stumble into each other to enter a mythological gauntlet will get their money’s worth here. While it may be a shame that the only women in the story are Princess Agatha and a background witch, there is plenty of time in future issues of Captives for some more diversity to take shape.

Fright Comics is a brand new company introducing some new entertaining comics into the fold, which are set to debut at Wizard World Chicago next week. Captives will also be available on ComiXology as well as the official Fright Comics website for $1.99 a pop digitally and $3.99 in print. For 23 action packed black and white pages, it is a bargain that any fan of great sword and sorcery stories should give a shot. There won’t even be any monsters or rogues to slay in order to get it!