In the Highlands of the Middle Kingdoms, where witchcraft and warlords vie for power, a warrior-priestess named Artesia fights for her king against the rulers of rival citadels. Collecting all six issues of the first Artesia mini-series!
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Paths and Consequences,
By fredtownward "The Analytical Mind; Have Brain... (Mocksville, North Carolina, United States) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE)
This review is from: Artesia (v. 1) (Hardcover)
Young Artesia was blessed (or cursed) with many paths from which to choose. As the daughter of a famous witch who was burned at the stake (occupational hazard), Artesia has learned and wields considerable magic, but she chose not the path of Magic. As a beautiful woman who enjoys sex in all its aspects, Artesia indulges herself when opportunity presents, but she chose not the path of Eros. As a worshiper of living gods, Artesia has received numerous spiritual (and material) blessings and benefits, but she chose not the path of Worship. Possessed of an inquiring mind like her brother, Artesia has sought out and acquired considerable knowledge, but she chose not the path of Scholarship. Instead Artesia chose the path of War, and that has made all the difference.
Attracted by the artwork and having developed a soft spot for sword and sorcery, I decided to give Artesia a try and was amazed at what I found! This is no pale imitation of Howard or Tolkien; this is a fully developed world with fully developed histories and back stories, fully developed magical powers, fully developed religions, and fully developed powers and empires with which its characters must contend. Having risen from refugee to concubine to warrior to commander of an army, Artesia has begun to frighten and make jealous her king and lover who plots to betray her. Unfortunately for him her powers have made her aware of this, but even she fails to grasp just how low he will stoop. Then in the midst of all this comes word from the south: an ancient enemy is on the path of conquest again, and choices must be made. Mark S. Smylie has given us quite a story here, or rather the first part of quite a story. Objections about unrealistically able female warriors are met first by magic and spiritual aid and second by good generalship. Few individual combats are shown; instead we see army against army, where better discipline, better training, and better leadership can rather easily defeat superior individual abilities. Defects? Well, frankly I have my doubts about whether a story this complex set in a world this complex can be successfully told in graphic novel format. Multiple re-readings will be required to gain even a hazy idea of all that is going on, and recourse to Artesia online or even purchase of the Artesia: Adventures In The Known World RPG may be advisable, even for non-RPG players. Smylie unfortunately makes matters worse by drawing too many of his characters too much alike. Most of the female characters, including Artesia, can only be distinguished by costume or situation, and that with considerable difficulty. The male characters are a bit more diverse, but even there the proliferation of square-faced men is occasionally confusing. The saga continues in Artesia Afield and Artesia Afire.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Needs work,
By
This review is from: Artesia (v. 1) (Hardcover)
Sigh. I was really intrigued to pick this one up, since I read it was about a matriarchal culture. While there are certainly some matriarchal elements to Artesia this story does not feature a matriarchal culture per se. In fact the main character is a concubine who has broken free of the harem of her husband and gone to war. She worships a goddess who seems to be a blend of pagan and Greek myth and she is also chief priestess of this deity. Artesia herself communes with spirits of the dead and with the avatars of various deities. Throughout the novel Artesia is mostly on campaign. She fights alongside her troops and gets involved with politics. Artesia is probably bi, although lesbian relationship is strongly implied. No actual sex is shown.
Critique: I thought it was average and was expecting more. Artesia is clearly a character written by a man, as her story is filled with elements of fan service, and her character despite being drawn female has a very male mindset. She is a stereotypical Amazon out to conquer the world, complete with her personal harem of ghostly women who cling and fawn over her. Not only is she an awesome warrior, she's also a great priestess. Eh. She reads like someone's D&D character in print! Sadly what Artesia lacks most is personality. The character is simply boring! Only through her loss (first of her dying soldiers and then for her girlfriends), did I ever feel any sympathy for her. Artesia isn't well-rounded. She's very bland. It almost feels at times that you are viewing Artesia and her world through a foggy lens. Finally, I have to disagree with people here about the art. The artist can draw decent bodies, armor and clothing, but his faces are really a problem area for him. I've noticed with male artists that they have a real hard time drawing faces, and this is also the case here. The faces are far too wide, the jaws way too big and stretched and when the heads turn the perspective is really off. This is especially noticeable for male faces who are all almost universally ugly. The artist can draw better female faces, but they often look too similar and they all have a nagel-esque style to them which gets boring after awhile. I was really put off by the faces in quite a few scenes, because they looked really amateurish and ruined the look of the scene. I just wanted to tell the artist to tone down that huge jaw, narrow the faces and make the eyes a bit less low on the head. For an artist with such a strong skill at drawing figures, his poor ability to draw faces is a definite weakness. I do have to say he draws good figures and his nudity on both male and female is very well depicted. Should you read it? This felt very 'guy fantasy' to me. If you like stories filled with fan service about warrior women who lead armies and have a harem of women clinging to them at various points throughout the tale, ghostly or otherwise this might appeal to you. I might pick up another to see if the artwork improves or if I like the character more. But I didn't like Artesia. She was too cold, the violence and the weird deities although lovingly depicted had a creepy quality. I honestly didn't care what happened to the characters and was less than enthused with Artesia. I'd rate this title mature. Violence, Nudity (both male and female), depicted.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
excellent story, graphics & coloring,
By
This review is from: Artesia (v. 1) (Hardcover)
First volume of the story of how a woman, Artesia, becomes a worshiped war strategist. She uses her special powers, her female intuition and her sexuality in a brutal world already in war, full of conspiracy.
She fights her opponents not only as an excellent swords (wo)man but also by communicating with the underworld and she's constantly accompanied by spirits
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