War Mother #1 –
Valiant Entertainment
Written by Fred Van Lente
Art by Stephen Segovia
Colors by Elmer Santos & Andrew Dalhouse
Letters by Dave Sharpe
Cover by David Mack
What happens when a tyrant falls, but things don’t get any better? As a matter of fact, what if they get worse? The burden that is carried by the next leader is a large one. Fred Van Lente explores that, and much more in this new story from Valiant Entertainment. Let’s find out more about the War Mother.
The story centers around Ana, who is the War Mother, who has been taken over as leader of her people when the chief warrior was killed. Normally that would be good news, but things have taken a turn for the worse for the people of the Grove. Ana not only has to try to find a solution, but also keep the peace and deal with something very mysterious that has come up. To make matters worse, this mystery is causing division within her people. I won’t spoil what it is, or something else that played a role in the early pages of the book, but I will say that it’s more than just that for her. Then there’s the fact that she has a talking weapon, who has a consciousness and acts as somewhat of a companion. This is not only an interesting relationship, but gives us a key piece of information as to what happened to their former leader and why things are the way they are for the Grove. I was actually surprised at the conclusion of the book, as it pushed the story forward much quicker than I expected in one issue.
Normally I am critical of books, especially first issue of a limited series, taking things too slow. In this case, I do wish they had saved the end of this first issue for at least one more. I was really hoping for at least one more issue about the War Mother’s journey and how the Grove is dealing with what is going on. It’s clear throughout the issue that something isn’t right, but it would have been nice to let that play out a big longer. Still that doesn’t mean that the War Mother isn’t a good and complex character that makes you want to follow her. She is mighty, but also flawed in a way that adds quite a bit of depth to her character. As usual with Valiant book, the art is very good and the action sequences are top notch. I just hope that this book doesn’t move too fast, and gives us a more foundation on where the rest of the story is going.
RATING: PICK UP