Comic Book Review - Warhammer 40,000: Sisters of Battle #1

Rob reviews Warhammer 40,000: Sisters of Battle #1...

The Warhammer 40,000 Universe is quite an untapped source when it comes to comic books. Whilst there have been some forms of a Warhammer comic throughout the years, none of them has stood the test of time - or lasted long within the bloated comic book market. This time around things looks to be different as Marvel partners with Games Workshop to bring a tale of the Adepta Sororitas aka The Sisters of Battle to comic pages. 

Warhammer 40,000: Sisters of Battle tells the story of the planet Siscia that's in the midst of open rebellion against its Imperial masters. Hoping to quell this dissent before it spreads to the rest of the planetary system, a small group of Battle Sisters from the Orders Militant have been given the task. The Sisters soon face enormous odds as the Imperial's greatest enemy - the forces of Chaos - seem to be pulling the rebellions strings from deep below the planet's surface. 

Writer Torunn Grønbekk has gotten this opening issue off to a great start. There's plenty of exposition that establishes both the Orders Militant and the wider universe, without being too full-on, or too brief (depending on your overall understanding). The majority of the Warhammer 40,000 backstory story centres on an intricate mix of both religion and brutal combat within a dark sci-fi setting. Thankfully Grønbekk also captures this essence incredibly well and shows a great understanding of the source material. Everything here plays off much like an over the top version of the tabletop game. From each players opening moves, right down to the nitty-gritty dice rolls of combat. Grønbekk isn't afraid to dive into this frantic and tense combat to push the story forward, and it's certainly a page-turner. 

Backing Grønbekk up is artist Edgar Salazar, and colourist Arif Prianto. Anyone familiar with Warhammer 40,000 already knows it's a pretty bleak place to be. Both Salazar and Prianto work well to bring this gritty universe to life without being too beautiful. The landscape work is a real wonder and each location defines the atmosphere and feels pretty well. There's a great switch from the gleaming hallways of the Imperial Retribution Class starship to Siscia, a frontier world that's secrets stretch far below the planets barren surface.

Each character also looks the part. The Sisters each look physically imposing with their scared black armour, glistening with various religious motifs and relics. Again, both Salazar and Prianto show brilliant understanding of these characters and what makes them such great material to work with. 

This opening act has gotten off to a brilliant start. The creative team show a clear understanding of the wider universe and the narrative already put in place from Games Workshop. There's plenty of direction that the story can go, even though we're touching upon the classic heresy and Chaos roots at the moment. My only real criticism so far is that we're given yet another tale of the Imperium when there's plenty of other interesting races that call this universe home. If anything it feels like Marvel is playing it safe. Gimme a tale about the Eldar or an Ork WAAAGH! 

Rating 8/10 

Rob Lake - For more comic book and video game chat why not follow Geek Culture Reviews on Twitter and Facebook @GeekCultureRev