Customer Reviews

Poison Elves Volume 9: Baptism By Fire

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Poison Elves Volume 9: Baptism By Fire collects issues 48-59 of the Sirius-published Poison Elves series, and contains the entire Elvin Fire storyline.

For those of you unfamiliar with this excellent (and criminally underrated) series, Poison Elves is the story of an elf named Lusiphur. Now, before you get visions in your head of pretty-boy elves like Legolas or those Elfquest characters, you should know that Lusiphur (Luse, as he's known to the few people he likes well enough not to have killed) is not that kind of elf. He's a street fighting, hard drinking, mercenary/assassin described by his creator as (and I'm paraphrasing here) "having the temperament of a rattlesnake and the ability to deliver sarcasm faster than lightning hits the ground." Sound intriguing? Drew Hayes is a master storyteller, and besides getting a great non-traditional fantasy story, there is plenty of social commentary and very relevant, very cutting observations. Drew was doing this kind of thing long before Garth Ennis, Warren Ellis, et al made it commonplace. And his artwork is terrific too.

In this volume, Lusiphur and Jace sign on as guards on a ship carrying a secret cargo. The ship gets boarded by pirates led by none other than Cleah (from Poison Elves, Volume Eight: Rogues (Poison Elves)). The elves discover that the cargo is actually the last ember of the Elvin Fire, an ancient power capable of creating great weapons against the Dark. Uncharacteristically, Luse and Jace decide to return the Fire to the elves, all the while pursued by the worst monsters the Dark can throw at them.

This is the beginning of a huge event in the Posion Elves series called the Dark War. This brings our misfit heroes back to the elvin homeland, where they will prepare to battle the forces of the dark. This is the stuff of epic fantasy, though presented in typical irreverent Drew Hayes fashion.

I can't recommend this series highly enough. When you're ready to take a break from "comics as usual", you owe it to yourself to check this series out.