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Sojourn #issues #13-18
Sojourn, Volume 3: The Warrior's Tale
The Warriors Tail - Sojourn Book 3
160 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2003
42 people want to read
About the author
Ron Marz
1,644 books122 followersMarz is well known for his work on Silver Surfer and Green Lantern, as well as the Marvel vs DC crossover and Batman/Aliens. He also worked on the CrossGen Comics series Scion, Mystic, Sojourn, and The Path. At Dark Horse Comics he created Samurai: Heaven and Earth and various Star Wars comics. He has also done work for Devil’s Due Publishing’s Aftermath line, namely Blade of Kumori. In 1995, he had a brief run on XO-Manowar, for Valiant Comics.
Marz’s more recent works includes a number of Top Cow books including Witchblade and a Cyberforce relaunch. For DC Comics, he has written Ion, a 12 part comic book miniseries that followed the Kyle Rayner character after the One Year Later event, and Tales of the Sinistro Corps Presents: Parallax and Tales of the Sinestro Corps Presents: Ion, two one-shot tie-ins to the Green Lantern crossover, The Sinestro Corps War.
His current creator owned projects include “Dragon Prince” (Top Cow) and “Samurai : Heaven and Earth” (Dark Horse).
Photo by Luigi Novi.
Marz’s more recent works includes a number of Top Cow books including Witchblade and a Cyberforce relaunch. For DC Comics, he has written Ion, a 12 part comic book miniseries that followed the Kyle Rayner character after the One Year Later event, and Tales of the Sinistro Corps Presents: Parallax and Tales of the Sinestro Corps Presents: Ion, two one-shot tie-ins to the Green Lantern crossover, The Sinestro Corps War.
His current creator owned projects include “Dragon Prince” (Top Cow) and “Samurai : Heaven and Earth” (Dark Horse).
Photo by Luigi Novi.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
September 17, 2014
Originally reviewed at Bookwraiths Reviews
Back in the day, CrossGen took on the herculean task of reinventing comics by publishing something other than standard superhero fare. Lead by the creative team of Barbara Kesel, Mark Waid and Ron Marz, CrossGen released comics based in science fiction, Victorian detective, and even samurai adventure. SOJOURN was one of CrossGen’s most popular titles due to its Lord of the Rings-type fantasy setting and Greg Land’s eye candy artwork. While the series only lasted thirty-five issues, the trade paperback collections are still easily found, great quality, and reasonably priced, so, even a decade later, you can still enjoy them.
Before I talk about this particular collection of comics, let me set the stage for our saga. Three hundred years ago, a vile conqueror named Mordath rose up on the world of Quin, waging a horrendous war on the Five Lands. This would-be overlord was very close to complete conquest when the tide was turned by the mysterious warrior called Ayden, who ultimately killed Mordath with an enchanted arrow. Thereafter, Ayden refused to take up the rule of the Five Lands, broke the arrow of Mordath’s downfall into five fragments and scattered them throughout the Five Lands before vowing that – though he was leaving – he could be recalled to the land’s aid if the arrow fragments were reassembled. Now, Mordath has been raised from the dead, is more powerful than ever, and has completed his conquest of the Five Lands. Sojourn is the continuing adventures of the archer Arwyn: a woman armed with Ayden’s Bow, sworn to destroy Mordath, and on a quest to discover the five hidden shards of Ayden’s arrow.
THE WARRIOR’S TALE: SOJOURN Vol. 3 collects issues #13-18 of the comic series and finds an injured Arwyn, her faithful dog Kreeg, and the roguish, one-eyed Gareth wandering into the Egyptian-esque land of Ankhara, seeking the second arrow fragment while trying to evade the pursuit of Bohr, Captain of the Lord Mordath’s Guard. Naturally, it isn’t an easy task because Ankhara is an occupied country, filled with Mordant’s vile creatures, and even if that wasn’t so, no one – including Arwyn and her group – has any idea where to look for the three-century-old shard. Soon, our heroes find themselves slinking through mummy-filled tombs and embroiled in a smoldering rebellion against Mordath’s forces.
Without a doubt, Ron Marz did a wonderful job of penning this story. It had it all from Arwyn and Gareth’s growing friendship to the Ankharan champion’s righteous agony over his people’s enslavement, but Bohr and the Ankharans stole the show for me. Ron Marz’s focus on the vicious Bohr dealing with his mother’s final illness was very poignant and well written, immediately turning this one-dimensional character into a multi dimensional one, and his characterization of the Ankharans was very fascinating, crafting a convincing image of a proud, winged folk living in their cliffside cities and soaring through the skies in their magnificence while chaffing under the enslavement of Mordoth’s creatures. Both were very engrossing and kept me turning the pages.
As for Greg Land’s visuals, they really are quite magnificent here. Sure, there is still a tendency for static poses or a few too many cheesecake images for Arwyn and others, but not nearly as many as in the previous issues, and here they really don’t detract from the story. Besides, the lush panels of the land of Ankharan are quite simply a feast for the eyes, convincing you that this is truly a magnificent land of windswept deserts and soaring cities with people whose pride is clearly seen in their posture and bearing. Even when guest artist Aaron Lopresti fills in for Issue 17, the art does not drop off enough for it to derail this story arc.
All in all, this was a very entertaining collection. Sure, it isn’t a deep, philosophical book or a genre changing masterpiece of new ideas, but it accomplishing exactly what it set out to do: be a beautiful, fantasy adventure tale. It helped me pass an enjoyable hour or so sitting on my couch and forgetting about all my real life problems, which means it is definitely a BLAST FROM THE PAST!
Back in the day, CrossGen took on the herculean task of reinventing comics by publishing something other than standard superhero fare. Lead by the creative team of Barbara Kesel, Mark Waid and Ron Marz, CrossGen released comics based in science fiction, Victorian detective, and even samurai adventure. SOJOURN was one of CrossGen’s most popular titles due to its Lord of the Rings-type fantasy setting and Greg Land’s eye candy artwork. While the series only lasted thirty-five issues, the trade paperback collections are still easily found, great quality, and reasonably priced, so, even a decade later, you can still enjoy them.
Before I talk about this particular collection of comics, let me set the stage for our saga. Three hundred years ago, a vile conqueror named Mordath rose up on the world of Quin, waging a horrendous war on the Five Lands. This would-be overlord was very close to complete conquest when the tide was turned by the mysterious warrior called Ayden, who ultimately killed Mordath with an enchanted arrow. Thereafter, Ayden refused to take up the rule of the Five Lands, broke the arrow of Mordath’s downfall into five fragments and scattered them throughout the Five Lands before vowing that – though he was leaving – he could be recalled to the land’s aid if the arrow fragments were reassembled. Now, Mordath has been raised from the dead, is more powerful than ever, and has completed his conquest of the Five Lands. Sojourn is the continuing adventures of the archer Arwyn: a woman armed with Ayden’s Bow, sworn to destroy Mordath, and on a quest to discover the five hidden shards of Ayden’s arrow.
THE WARRIOR’S TALE: SOJOURN Vol. 3 collects issues #13-18 of the comic series and finds an injured Arwyn, her faithful dog Kreeg, and the roguish, one-eyed Gareth wandering into the Egyptian-esque land of Ankhara, seeking the second arrow fragment while trying to evade the pursuit of Bohr, Captain of the Lord Mordath’s Guard. Naturally, it isn’t an easy task because Ankhara is an occupied country, filled with Mordant’s vile creatures, and even if that wasn’t so, no one – including Arwyn and her group – has any idea where to look for the three-century-old shard. Soon, our heroes find themselves slinking through mummy-filled tombs and embroiled in a smoldering rebellion against Mordath’s forces.
Without a doubt, Ron Marz did a wonderful job of penning this story. It had it all from Arwyn and Gareth’s growing friendship to the Ankharan champion’s righteous agony over his people’s enslavement, but Bohr and the Ankharans stole the show for me. Ron Marz’s focus on the vicious Bohr dealing with his mother’s final illness was very poignant and well written, immediately turning this one-dimensional character into a multi dimensional one, and his characterization of the Ankharans was very fascinating, crafting a convincing image of a proud, winged folk living in their cliffside cities and soaring through the skies in their magnificence while chaffing under the enslavement of Mordoth’s creatures. Both were very engrossing and kept me turning the pages.
As for Greg Land’s visuals, they really are quite magnificent here. Sure, there is still a tendency for static poses or a few too many cheesecake images for Arwyn and others, but not nearly as many as in the previous issues, and here they really don’t detract from the story. Besides, the lush panels of the land of Ankharan are quite simply a feast for the eyes, convincing you that this is truly a magnificent land of windswept deserts and soaring cities with people whose pride is clearly seen in their posture and bearing. Even when guest artist Aaron Lopresti fills in for Issue 17, the art does not drop off enough for it to derail this story arc.
All in all, this was a very entertaining collection. Sure, it isn’t a deep, philosophical book or a genre changing masterpiece of new ideas, but it accomplishing exactly what it set out to do: be a beautiful, fantasy adventure tale. It helped me pass an enjoyable hour or so sitting on my couch and forgetting about all my real life problems, which means it is definitely a BLAST FROM THE PAST!
April 17, 2025
Solid fantasy storytelling continues; Land’s art is of course fantastic, before he’s embroiled in the plagerism scandals
September 27, 2024
Part Three of an ongoing series, Sojourn: The Warrior’s Tale contains chapters 13-18. Ron Marz is the writer of all the chapters but there are several pencilers, inkers, and colorists. The story is of a human female archer on a quest to complete a legendary bow and arrow set so as to ultimately defeat a dread warlord. In this chapter she has the bow and one piece of the arrow, but must find four more pieces. Accompanied by a dog and one human male and tracked by the warlord’s trolls, she must collect a piece from each of five kingdoms/lands. In Part Three we get to enter Ankhara, capitol city of the winged people. The artwork is beautiful, the female characters so much so it’s hard to believe they could maintain such cleanliness, hair, and soft skin in the medieval-style life set in such a mountainous desert country. But everyone is as ably drawn, with even the trolls compelling in their evil appearances, and the winged warriors simply awesome. The story is nothing new – a quest, hurdles and hunters, friends, foes and death with another chapter to come. It’s a fun little read. I’ve been enjoying these color graphic novels for the tremendous effort that goes into each page. Truly spectacular works of art. Would I recommend Sojourn: The Warrior’s Tale by Ron Marz to my friends? Yes.
May 19, 2020
usually I'd have left this alone and not bothered with it, snobby I know but at least I'm honest. But I'm well and truly hooked now, I want to know how this pans out so I will keep reading
August 5, 2022
Well, Marz stopped writing the story and Land left the art duties after The Thief’s Tale. And of course, the quality kept going down. And… we’re left with an unfinished story. Disappointed.
September 29, 2016
Interestingly enough, the story telling substantially improves in this compendium. A bit heavy handed, but a nice side story for one of Mordath's lackeys, illustrating his areas of grey like everyone else. I approached this issue with the very low expectations instilled by the previous two and amybe because of that was surprised. The art again overall was quite good except for one chapter where a different penciller & inker were used. I get the impression, from the reviews regarding the limited number of issues left in the series before Crossgen went bankrupt, that they were trying to pad the stories as much as possible with back stories and side quests. The beginning of that as evident early on and unfortunate. Some is fine, but there is a desire on the part of the reader to just get back to the point of the plot.
February 26, 2010
Reprints Sojourn #13-18. Arwyn and Gareth travel to Ankhara for their quest and become involved in a rebellion. Sojourn is a strong Crossgen series with art that sometimes is very good and sometimes is shameful by trying to look like a pin-up. The story is interesting enough to hold the reader but seems a little drawn out at points.
May 16, 2016
There's really nothing to say about this installment that I haven't said about the first two in the series: the plot is still formulaic, the dialogue is still sharp, and the art is still excellent.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews