Read our review of Rebel Moon: House of the Bloodaxe #1 from Titan Comics, story by Zack Snyder, written by Magdalene Visaggio, and art by Clark Bint.
We reviewed the book on the Stack podcast. But in the interest of highlighting more about the title, here’s a summary of the conversation with our thoughts. And if you prefer the longer audio version, that’s below as well!
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Rebel Moon: House of the Bloodaxe #1 Review:
Rebel Moon is now on Netflix, and in it we meet two revolutionaries: the Bloodaxes. This comic is the story of how they came to lead a rebellion.
“My take is it’s very dense sci-fi, clearly inspired by Dune,” said host Alex Zalben. “I think the team is doing the best job they possibly can. But given the convoluted, not particularly interesting mythology that Zack Snyder has set up, this didn’t quite work for me.”
“I just can’t believe that Rebel Moon is billed as, this was going to be a Star Wars movie,” added Justin Tyler. “This is so far away from Star Wars. It’s maybe Dune like a harder-edged Dune. Or I feel like Zack Snyder was like, what if we did these two cool things at the same time? … And this comic, like you’re saying, is just very dense. The characters speak like they’re in The Phantom Menace, where they’re just talking, talking, talking about the politics and exposition of this place. And we get some fighting and whatnot. But it’s just all like, ‘you won’t believe how important this thing is.’ And it’s like, ‘what are you talking about?'”
More positively, Pete LePage said “This is great art. There’s a fun twist at the end. But I’m a little hesitant because I feel like I need more before I make a decision on this.”
Back to the negative, Zalben said, “This isn’t really a distinct sci-fi world, is the problem. And I know Netflix that everybody else is putting their all in on it. They got two parts, they’ve got director cuts. Dark Horse, today, as we’re taping announced that they’re releasing… models of the drop ships… I’ve seen the movie. It’s fine. There’s some fine sci-fi stuff in there, I guess. But it’s not anything new or fresh or interesting. I don’t think you can force a new concept into the world… Everybody wants their own Star Wars. This is not it. But again, I want to shout out the creative team here Magdalene Visaggio, a very good, very solid writer doing a good job with what she’s been given in terms of the material. Clark Bint, good art. I don’t know. It doesn’t quite work.”
Rebel Moon: House of the Bloodaxe #1 Official Synopsis:
As war is looming on the horizon on the planet Shasu, the leader of the Bloodaxe family is conflicted between living up to his father’s domineering legacy and maintaining the peace. It is up to him to settle the conflicts within himself, and his family, before the entire planet erupts in war.
