Broken Frontier

Francis Manapul's evolution as an art legend can be exposed no better than in this underwhelming French book from 2008.

When the Kingdom of N'nas Amon is under attack, the Queen and Prince must defend their city with hired help. The Prince must defend the bloodline by choosing a wife to carry his child. Seven warriors may be able to meet both demands of the royal house. 7 Warriors, a book from France in 2008, is brought to America by Boom! Studios over a three issue miniseries. While the name Michael Le Galli may be unknown in America, Francis Manapul has been a rising star at DC Comics in the recent years, primarily from his collaborations with Geoff Johns. Undoubtedly, he's the main draw to this book, pun intended, unless you're on the lookout for books featuring a seven-female team of super warriors defending a country. Possibly, someone might even pick it up because the cover art is intensely reminiscent of the Marvel Civil War dress.

The largest thing to say about 7 Warriors is that it's disappointing, if only for Manapul's art. This is not the Manapul that co-writes and draws the amazing The Flash book as part of the New 52. This is the Manapul of 2008, working with a rather-wordy writer and not colored by the amazing Brian Buccellato. The greatest thing that can be said about The Flash is that it's tight, effectively being fully handled by the pair of Manapul and Buccellato in every aspect but lettering and editing. Only books such as the works of Terry Moore transcend this level of cohesion. 7 Warriors lacks that cohesion, featuring not only a writer not working to the strength of the artist, but a colorist not knowing that Manapul would become amazing with watercolors but turns into so much Michael Turner aping with regular colors.

Though, if you ever wanted to see how Manapul handles the naked female form, this would be your chance. It's doubtful we'll see Barry Allen ravage either Patty Spivot or Iris West on page one of a new book; DC will likely leave the full-page reveals (in more ways than one) to Catwoman.

Le Galli's writing isn't bad, but it just doesn't stand out. It may be something lost in translation, either culturally or linguistically, but the book's story seems like oh so much Raiders of the Lost Ark without all the charm. Additionally, some disconnect can be found from writer to artist; Manapul's panels are unusually formulaic, padded out by massive word balloons. A few less panels (even with the same amount of text) would have let the book decompress quite a bit.

7 Warriors commits no grave sin, other than being the early and less spectacular work of Francis Manapul. Without his name attached, this book could easily be forgotten. It's not a bad dream, it's one that's forgotten soon after waking up.