By Jarred A. Luján — Image’s newest #1, Protector, is out this week, solicited as a Mad Max meets Conan the Barbarian type story, which is a pretty damn interesting combination. Fantasy lore meets apocalyptic society? Oh, yeah, that sounds dope as hell.

The thing about Protector is that it pulls off it’s first trick super well: the lore. The book is laden with big ideas, setting itself in a world that should be familiar to us, but time has long made unrecognizable. We get introduced to this new world, but really just a taste. We see the new religious aspect as well as the new (yet ancient) style of civilization. There’s little bits and pieces of who these people are, who their tribes are, with names that are just a little familiar. Yet, the book never beats you over the head with it. It doesn’t spend several pages explaining it, it really just kind of drops you in and let’s you experience it first hand. I really think that’s something that fits super well with a book like this: it feels immersive and you kind of just have to hit the ground running. Even better, it gives the book a little bit of mystery. With that said, if you want to really get steeped in it, the book includes a few pages of back matter with relevant info that you can read up on.

Truthfully, I was glad to see this was a sort of dystopia story without being centered or framed around what caused the dystopia. It orients the reader in the setting while telling a story about these people in this time. Combined with the way it handles the in-story history, I think this makes the book feel fresh and something a bit more interesting than it would’ve been otherwise.

Artyom Trakhanov has such a unique style, too. I swear, I took one look and knew it was the artist from 7 Deadly Sins. What I like about Trakhanov’s style is how kinetic and boundaryless it feels. His close-ups capture some of the strongest emotion in comics today, and he always uses them at the right time for the right panel. Handling a book like this, with such a varied and unique approach to the setting, really lets him shine. The energy is there, the emotion is there, the passion is there, and you can feel it on every page.

Trakhanov’s style is so unique and so different, that I think it sort of forces others to adjust to make sure the art is all coherent from page to page, and I think that Jason Wordie really shines alongside Trakhanov here. I feel like Wordie has been in everything I’ve read lately, so seeing his colors is always a welcomed addition. Hassan Ostmane-Elhaou as well uses a lettering style that really doesn’t take away from Trakhanov’s pages. It all just feels like it flows well together, that everything is all working perfectly.

I think my biggest issue with Protector is that…I don’t really feel attached to either of the central characters we spend time with. The book is almost split perfectly in half among two of them, and we really don’t know much about either of them at the launching point of the book. Sure, we know their motivations (for the most part), but we don’t really know anything substantive about them…one character is without any sort of personality at all before the book’s focus shifts. 

Overall: I think the premise of this book and the well-constructed art team is enough to earn a second issue pick up from me, but I certainly would have liked to know more about who our story is following from the outset. 8.0/10

Protector #1
Writer: Simon Roy & Daniel Bensen
Artist: Artyom Trakhanov
Colorist: Jason Wordie
Letterer: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou
Publisher: Image Comics
Price: $3.99
Solicit: SERIES PREMIERE! From SIMON ROY (Prophet), Sideways Award-winning author DANIEL M. BENSEN (Junction), ARTYOM TRAKHANOV (UNDERTOW), JASON WORDIE (GOD COUNTRY), and HASSAN OTSMANE-ELHAOU (Red Sonja) comes a sci-fi adventure equal parts Conan the Barbarian, Mad Max, and The Expanse. Of all the tribes that dwell in the hot ruins of far-future North America, the Hudsoni reign supreme, but even they fear and obey the godlike Devas. When the Devas warn of an old-world demon in the conquered city of Shikka-Go, Hudsoni war chief First Knife decides to deal with the threat personally.

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Jarred A. Luján makes comics, studies existential philosophy, and listens to hip-hop too loudly. For bad jokes and dog pictures, you can follow him on Twitter.