Marvel Frontier Comics: The Complete Collection

Children of the Voyager #1-4

by Nick Abadzis, Simon Jowett, Nicholas Vince

Collects Children of the Voyager #1-4, Dances with Demons #1-4, Mortigan Immortalis #1-4, Bloodseed #1-2, Marvel Frontier Comics Unlimited #1. A forgotten gem from Marvel UK is collected in its entirety for the first time, with new art and introductions by the original creators! Who is Bloodseed? And what is his mission in a barbarian world of talking pterodactyls, giant lizards and remnants of technology from a long-lost civilization? Something is haunting author Sam Wantling's dreams — could he be a Child of the Voyager? Will James Owl survive his dance with demons when he discovers that he is the heir to a great Native American spirit? And in the 14th century, Mortigan Goth sold his soul for immortality...now, how far will he go to keep it?

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Superheroes

398 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 26, 2016

About the author

Nick Abadzis was born in Sweden to Greek and English parents and was brought up in Switzerland and England. He is a writer and artist who likes comics (which means these days he seems to be known as a "graphic novelist"). His work for both adults and children has been published in many countries across the world.

He also works as an editorial consultant and has helped set up several best-selling and innovative children's magazines, including most recently, The DFC for David Fickling Books, the first British children's comic to feature original characters in nearly a quarter of a century. His storytelling contribution, Cora's Breakfast, was featured in The Guardian. His work has also appeared in The Times, The Independent on Sunday, TimeOut, Radio Times, and various other BBC publications and websites. Other clients have included Eaglemoss Publications, HarperCollins, Harcourt Education, Scholastic, Orchard Books, DC Comics, Marvel Comics, and 2000AD. He lives in London with his wife and daughter.

Reviews

[Alex Sarll]

Marvel UK's short-lived attempt at riding the same post-Watchmen wave which gave us the likes of Deadline, Crisis and Vertigo. And the first of the miniseries collected here, Mortigan Goth, feels a lot like a rough sketch of Sandman, following an immortal attempting to overcome his passivity through a haunted Earth, and a Hell cribbed from Dante but given a modern twist. The art's by Mark Buckingham, so of course that's lovely; the writer is Nick Vince, who hasn't had quite such an impressive career, and you can see why. It's disjointed, characters get forgotten about, and though there are some strong scenes, it lacks any overall sense of purpose. Still, it's amusing to see Doctor Strange minus most of his powers and wielding an axe, just like he was in his recent stories. And Buckingham is particularly good on his pompous expression.

Then you've got Dances With Demons, modern superhero horror rooted in Hopi mythology, which definitely means well. Again, the main interest lies in the art by future big deal Charlie Adlard, though it looks very different to his Walking Dead work.

Children Of The Voyager is the highlight - unsurprisingly, I suppose, given that here both writer and artist (Nick Abadzis and Paul Johnson) have significant credits elsewhere. Following a writer with a regrettable ponytail, on the run from a malign supernatural force, it feels the most Vertigo of the lot - and where Dances With Demons had echoes of the imprint's worst excesses ("Shadows unfurl with the rustle of dead wings. Clowns chatter nonsense, teeth sliding together like scissor-blades"), here it's the good stuff - "stories of countries beyond the tiny provinces of Earth, Hell and Heaven".

Next up, Liam Sharp's Bloodseed, inspired by the seventies' barbarian comics and the nineties' nineties comics. Which is to say, lots of big boobs and even bigger muscles. Sharp's introduction admits it's no masterpiece, and the Book Of The New Sun inspiration might have come through better if it'd had more than two issues, but there's definitely a vigour to it, and I admire the chutzpah with which it nicks and then stacks two great SF twists.

After that, a few odds and sods, trailers from David Hine and D'Israeli for series that would never happen, and it's done, leaving us to wonder what it might have become, somewhere else.

[Jack Bumby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Worth reading just for "Children of the Voyager" alone. Here's a breakdown of what I'd score each story.

- Mortigan Goth: Immortalis (4/5)
- Dances With Demons (2/5)
- Children of the Voyager (5/5)
- Bloodseed (2/5)
- Extras (3/5)

[Rick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mortigan Goth: Immortalis #1-4 - A fun story that weaves together Doctor Strange, vampires, Mephisto, Spitfire (from the Invaders) and our new titular character. The only thing was that it felt like nothing more than retreading stuff that had already been done in the pages of Sandman (see: Preludes & Nocturnes). Nothing wrong, it was entertaining and enjoyable, it just didn’t feel at all fresh or new. How much of that is that it was originally published in 1993? That I can’t answer as I’ve gotten it in 2024.

Dances With Demons #1-4 - Another fun story, I actually think I enjoyed this one a bit more than the Mortigan Goth arc. This one reminded me both I Am Coyote (and I’m a HUGE fan of that series) and TIMESPIRITS #1-8 Complete story (which I also really enjoyed, and I don’t think that 8-issue series has actually had a collected edition, but I might be wrong, and it really deserves one), so this might have seemed a bit derivative to me, but I cannot say that it did, so I’m surprised I liked this one as much as I did.

Children of the Voyager #1-4 - Old fashioned possession horror with a twist. Actually, this little series was pretty good. Certainly nothing really new got added to the troupes, but it was still handled pretty well. Likable characters and an evolving plot that kept me engaged. I don’t think it was quite as good as the previous arc, but still very entertaining.

Bloodseed #1-2 - Well, that was gratuitous and silly, juvenile and adolescent. Kind of a cross between Conan the Barbarian and the Mad Max films. Nothing here but fanboy fantasy fulfillment. Even the art was ludicrous and bad. It also feels very unfinished, like it got canceled in the middle of the story, and the publisher just changed the number of issues expected on the covers to make it seem it was complete.

Marvel Frontier Comics Special #1 - The Mortigan Goth story has some lovely nods to the works of Edgar Allen Poe, but there’s really nothing else to it. Similarly, the Dances With Demons story is not as captivating or interesting as the mini-series. Sadly, the “epilogue” for Children of the Voyager felt completely unnecessary and maybe even detracted from the impact of the 4-issue miniseries. Sometimes you just don’t need to tack on an additional ending, this was one of those cases. The Bloodseed short is as engaging to me as the two issues are. Meh. Then we have two “new” shorts. One was a prologue of sorts for a series that never got published, it is murder mystery of sorts. Nothing special. And the last is a delightful creepy tale that’s very reminiscent of those Tales of the Crypt kind of things.

Overall, I was not very impressed with the stuff collected here. Perhaps I may have enjoyed in more had I read them in the early or mid 90s, but there is nothing all that interesting or inventive here from today’s perspective. It’s not these stories are bad, they’re just not very fresh or inventive.