Samurai Elf: Bull’s Eye picks up immediately after the events of the first volume of the series. This volume is in full color, which is a pleasant surprise. Once again, the reader joins Ardan on his quest to discover why his destiny is so important to the survival of the planet Tyr. This time, he’s not only traveling with Keegan, the young woman who decided to join him in the first book, he’s also followed by several groups who very obviously simply want him dead. The major nemesis is a sinister cyborg army known as the Hoarde who are led by an as-yet-unseen mastermind known as “The Fury”, which chooses to speak to its minions as a very small helmet-shaped, hovering robot. The Hoarde itself seems like a great mix of “Predator” and “Terminator”, with some mythical supersoldier thrown into the blend, which makes them, overall, a formidable enemy. There is also a pair of bounty hunters known as Bone and Clyde, as well as a gang of hapless thugs to provide comedy relief. This is quite obviously a bridge volume, meant to forward information and introduce key characters, rather than forward plot. It’s not dull or tedious, things do happen, including a rather entertaining barroom brawl that is interrupted by a troll bouncer, but Ardan and Keegan don’t actually leave the city of Castel. There is the very promising introduction of a pirate character who is of a species that is, most likely, related to elvenkind. Her inclusion in the story is enough to keep readers engaged enough to look forward to the third volume. One gets the feeling in reading this volume that there will be a long, complex story arc, but it’s also a story that feels like it will be a very satisfying read in its entirity.
In the review of the previous volume, I mentioned that the artist and writer show great potential, and this installment certainly proves that. The artwork is still a bit flat and two-dimensional, but the style lends itself well to making the action in the story very clear and easy to understand visually. The color is well done and adds a bit more depth than the earlier volume had. The shading is far less plastic-looking and it’s clear that the artist is certainly learning his craft by creating something. There are far fewer awkward poses in this volume and the art flows better, lending a more natural pace to the story. The artist has grown by leaps and bounds in only a single volume.
The writing is also improving as the writers get a better feel for both their characters and the story that they want to tell. The characters never seem to act against the reader’s expectations and the dialogue is becoming more natural. It’s making great strides even in a single volume.
Samurai Elf shows the promise of being a very engaging series and it makes me want to see future volumes so I can see this team improve as they continue to tell this story.
--BookSpotCentral.com
Ardan and Keegan reach Castel, but tempers flare as they fight their way through low life thugs, a black market pirate, two bounty-hunting dwarves, and the Horde’s most vicious death machines, The Hunters. The Horde marches the planet towards a horrific future as their enigmatic mastermind is poised to unleash his cybernetic army. They’ll stop at nothing to capture Ardan, if only he knew why. The walls are slowly closing in as Ardan finds himself in the Bull’s Eye.
Coming out in November is the second volume based in the richly developed setting of Samurai Elf. Miguel Guerra and Suzy Dias create a world that is part LOTR fantasy, part science fantasy (think Dolph and the Masters of the Universe), part anime-feel (who doesn’t want to carry a sword that is as long and as wide as your body) with a dash of mod --Broken Frontier
Samurai Elf follows the adventures of the last elf on the planet Tyr. Ardan knows nothing about his past, but he suddenly becomes a very popular being. Problem is, not all of his fans have his best interest at heart. Thus begins Ardan s tale of self-discovery and world adventure. Volume 1: Set Apart, keeps it simple by introducing the main influences in Ardan s life, from a master Samurai Dwarf, who s training Ardan really finds draining, to Keegan, a feisty, female samurai who takes a liking to Ardan and realizes her life has been too boring for too long, decides to share his quest for answers and destiny. Along the way we also meet some of the Hordes horrific minions. Enhanced robotic humans who have allowed themselves to be transformed into hideous killing machines in order to do their Fury s bidding. Namely, capture Ardan. But some of them are willing to risk recycling to gain vengeance on the last elf. We also catch a glimpse of a seemingly dark power inside of Ardan himself. Is this why all of Tyr seems to be after him?Volume 2: Bull s Eye ups the ante right up front. Many ideas not present in the first volume are introduced here. Interesting, complex themes that fit into the first book yet not touched upon in it. Was Guerra and Dias setting us up in the first volume just to sucker punch us in the second? Not all of these new story points are explored fully in this book either. Leading me to believe that there is much more to Ardan s story even after he and Keegan reach Castell and are seemingly captured by a bounty hunter husband and wife duo. They use some flashback scenes to fill you in on what was going on in the first book behind the scenes to get everyone where they are in book two. The Horde and their evil, twisted mechanizations are graphically presented while some of the people who will aide Ardan are getting their posse on to back up the young elf. There are also interludes of some lighthearted fun to balance off the destruction, evilness, and downright creepiness of the Horde and their constructs. For large editions, both volumes of Samurai Elf are both quick, easy reads. They are real page turners. I kept needing to go past the page of the book that I arbitrarily chose as my stopping point just to find out what would happen.Some of the events do not seem to come together naturally and some scenes don t seem necessary. But I think those are the scenes where writers Miguel Guerra and Suzy Dias are humanizing these non-human participants. He may get carried away sometimes, but that s how we humans are. The artwork is very appropriate to the style of the story. It is simple and effective. It borders on cartoony with moments of manga. The second volume is in color, but I don t think that was necessary. It really doesn t add to the characters, story, or scenery which are all adequately depicted in black and white in volume 1.Guerra and Dias have come out of the gate very strong with Samurai Elf. They have room to grow both artistically and storywise and I d like to see how they develop alongside Ardan, their Samurai Elf. --Geeks of Doom
Ardan and Keegan reach Castel, but tempers flare as they fight their way through low life thugs, a black market pirate, two bounty-hunting dwarves, and the Horde’s most vicious death machines, The Hunters. The Horde marches the planet towards a horrific future as their enigmatic mastermind is poised to unleash his cybernetic army. They’ll stop at nothing to capture Ardan, if only he knew why. The walls are slowly closing in as Ardan finds himself in the Bull’s Eye.
Coming out in November is the second volume based in the richly developed setting of Samurai Elf. Miguel Guerra and Suzy Dias create a world that is part LOTR fantasy, part science fantasy (think Dolph and the Masters of the Universe), part anime-feel (who doesn’t want to carry a sword that is as long and as wide as your body) with a dash of modernized details to keep it familiar to the non-fantasy fan . The amalgamation is something recognizable but enjoyable (dark-skinned elven hotties with hoop earing and Afros here we come!)
The details and history of their world in very in-depth, they obviously spent quite a deal of time putting this together and have not just thrown details in a pot with some action and hope they mesh. The character development and plot lines are all very classic, it’s sort of like reading a collection of old Prince valiant strips in that aspect, you know where it’s going but the fun is in the journey.
There have been some major growth since the first volume of this series, in particular in the area of the art. Improved page layouts, a more constant penciling style and colorization all add to much larger charm factor for the second volume of Samurai Elf.
--ThePullBox.com
Miguel Guerra is the creator, artist and writer of the Samurai Elf and Alric the Wild series. He currently publishes short stories in Heavy Metal Magazine and smaller publications like Antarctic Press.
Miguel was born in Madrid to an American father and a Spanish mother. He grew up in Spain, Canada and the U.S., which explains his many stylistic influences, including Japanese, European and American art. He excels at blending all of these to create an original art style. Part Barnum and Bailey, part introverted artist, his stories show a keen understanding of human nature which he depicts in a realistic yet cartoonish manner.
From 2003-2007, he worked as a translator for NBM Publishing (Spanish to English). Some of his more popular translations include, Fantastic Art and Dark Labyrinth by Luis Royo, and Daily Delirium by Miguelanxo Prado. He is currently a translator for Heavy Metal Magazine. He has translator numerous short stories for the magazine as well as books such as Lorna: The Black Towers by Alfonso Azpiri, The Forgotten series by Cris Ortega, and Cruel Thing by Lean (art by Luciano Vecchio).
