Customer Reviews

Poison Elves Volume 7: Salvation

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Poison Elves Volume 7: Salvation collects issues 26-39 of the Sirius-published Poison Elves series, and concludes the long running Sanctuary 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.

Salvation wraps up the (very) long-running Sanctuary saga. In Poison Elves, Volume Five: Sanctuary (Poison Elves), Luse joins Sanctuary, a secret guild of assassins and thieves, and finds true love. You know how rare that is for someone like Lusiphur, so you can tell this means something. At the same time, Luse's pal Jace joins the Blood Guard, an elite police task force assigned to bring down Sanctuary.

Poison Elves, Volume Six: Guild War (Poison Elves) finds Luse captured by a rival guild, and the subsequent war between guilds. Not to mention the first conflict between Sanctuary and the Blood Guard. This volume also sees the involvement of the Elven High Wizard known as Tenth, Luse's ex-wife (and a powerful sorceress in her own right) Hyena, and the return of Widowmaker.

Oh, and Jace inadvertently causes Luse's new love to die.

In Salvation, Luse blasts his way out of Sanctuary and begins hunting down any member of the Blood Guard he can find, working his way up to a confrontation with Jace. In some ways, the Sanctuary saga ended with Cassie's death. This is really just the aftermath. It's a tale of bloody revenge, love, loss, and friendship...with the occasional Purple Marauder appearance and a temporary (but hysterical) sex change for the main character. You have to read it to believe it.

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. My recommendation is to pick up volume 5 first, as it provides an excellent introduction to the series. When you finish that one, you'll no doubt want to go back and read volumes 1-4.

NOTE: This book has a cover price of less than twenty bucks, and shouldn't be that hard to find. You may want to keep that in mind when you see people selling it for some ungodly amount.

This dramatic conclusion of the Sanctuary Tale was a great suprise! It threw everything you were expecting out of the window. Learn what Tenth has up his sleeve for Luse, and learn what happens to the rest of the Sanctuary gang. I stand behind this choice 100%.

You can easily get the issues that are in this book for less then $100. Don't give your cash to these SCALPERS!

I'm giving this item 5 stars because i'm sure it's as great as all the Poison Elves volumes.