Primordia

by John R. Fultz, Roel Wielinga (Illustrator), Joel O'Chua (Colorist)

A pair of human infants are abandoned in the depths of an ancient forest and adopted by the strange creatures called Woodfolk. Driniel (Moon) is the night-wanderer, dancing with the Darkling spirits of the deep groves, summoning demons for his arcane pleasures. Alleyar (Sun) is the flame of valor, rising to esteem in the ranks of the Woodfolk hunters and taming a fierce beast with his sorcery. The Woodking's daughter, Princess Vega, must choose between her twin lovers as they are exiled into the savage world of Man. More than human, less than gods, these misfit brothers will change the worlds of Gods and Mortals forever as they uncover the secrets of their own past and parentage. Illustrated by Roel Wielinga, colored by Joel Jason O'Chua.

Genres: Fantasy, Graphic Novels

104 pages, Hardcover

First published April 29, 2008

About the author

John R. Fultz lives in the Bay Area, California, but is originally from Kentucky. His fiction has appeared in Weird Tales, Black Gate, and Space & Time, as well as the comic book anthologies Zombie Tales and Cthulhu Tales. His graphic novel of epic fantasy, Primordia, was published by Archaia Comics. John’s literary heroes include Tanith Lee, Thomas Ligotti, Clark Ashton Smith, Lord Dunsany, William Gibson, Robert Silverberg, and Darrell Schweitzer (not to mention Howard, Poe, and Shakespeare). When not writing stories, novels, or comics, John teaches English Literature at the middle/high school level and plays a mean guitar. In a previous life he made his living as a wandering storyteller on the lost continent of Atlantis.

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 1 out of 5]

Billed as a new mythology, this was more of an excuse to show scantily clad women and men. It's about two babies left behind in some kind of fantasy wood. They grow up as rivals, both in love with the same green fairy woman. One is of the light, the other the dark. Then it gets into some god pantheon stuff. It reads like antiquated sci-fi.

The art is very inconsistent as well. At times it looks pretty good. Others I can't even tell what is happening.

[Melissa Bennett · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had mixed feelings on this book. At times, the artwork was astounding then other times it was quite disappointing. A character could look the same throughout a few frames and then so different in the next frame that you'd have to do a double take. The storyline was just okay. Nothing spectacular. Felt it took a long time to get nowhere. This book was good but could've been so much better.

[Jana Tetzlaff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Primordia

I don’t really know how to rate this. I was, at first, delighted by the artwork, mostly because I like things being pretty and colourful. I was delighted, but not impressed. Does that make sense? There was a child-like quality to the drawing and colouring, but I like that. I don’t need my graphic novels to be overly realistic or artistic.

I wasn’t that impressed with the story, though. The preface promises an original re-invention of myths, but it didn’t strike me as all that special. The author’s examples of his draft version and his admission that he is not much of an artist, struck me as unnecessarily humble. I was wondering how much time he must have spent drawing these first eight pages. I wished I had an ounce of his talent.

So, I’m giving this an undecided three-star rating. It probably deserves more, but it didn’t blow me away as I had hoped it would. The curse of unattainable expectations!

[k · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5🌟
I don't really recommend this comic.

[Periklis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cleverly written story, in the mythic vein of fantasy, with artwork that brings to mind the greatest moments of the '70s "Savage Sword of Conan" magazines (only, in color!).
Fans of Clark Aston Smith and/or Gil Kane shouldn't miss it.

[Jordi · Rating 1 out of 5]

A little too weird for my taste. I would say that it had wayyy too many things going on that it just becomes an overkill.

[Daisy Hibbard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great fantasy read! Quite clever and I loved the written part at the end. Nice touch! Would love to read more of this series if ever available.

[Andrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

review forthcoming from No Flying No Tights