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mackle13's review
2.0
2.5
I only recently became aware of the character of Solomon Kane, and I've never read any of the books - so I can't compare on that front.
The story itself is ok, but on the standard side. Granted, it is based on a snippet of a story older than I am, so I can make certain allowances in that regard. I was interested in this idea of a warrior Puritan - it reminded me a bit of the Priest manga.
But the writing was very choppy. Neither narrative nor conversations moved in an organic fashion, and the artwork seemed equally sketchy. (Also, the one character, John Silent, whose sole purpose seems to be to get in the way and say "Name of the Devil" every freaking time anything happens was pretty annoying. He would've been better had he lived up to his name... )
I did like the short story at the end, though, called "The Nightcomers". If they'd padded that one out more and shortened the title story, it might've been enough to bump it up to three.
ETA: I forgot to mention one of the more annoying things. While Kane and Silent are both English, the story takes place in Germany. Most of the German dialogue is "translated" for our benefit, denoted by < brackets.
Except there are large swathes of dialogue, right around the freaking climax, which are not translated, so I had to sort of guess what was actually being said, as I didn't have easy access to a computer to get a translation at the time of reading.
Really bad decision there.
I only recently became aware of the character of Solomon Kane, and I've never read any of the books - so I can't compare on that front.
The story itself is ok, but on the standard side. Granted, it is based on a snippet of a story older than I am, so I can make certain allowances in that regard. I was interested in this idea of a warrior Puritan - it reminded me a bit of the Priest manga.
But the writing was very choppy. Neither narrative nor conversations moved in an organic fashion, and the artwork seemed equally sketchy. (Also, the one character, John Silent, whose sole purpose seems to be to get in the way and say "Name of the Devil" every freaking time anything happens was pretty annoying. He would've been better had he lived up to his name... )
I did like the short story at the end, though, called "The Nightcomers". If they'd padded that one out more and shortened the title story, it might've been enough to bump it up to three.
ETA: I forgot to mention one of the more annoying things. While Kane and Silent are both English, the story takes place in Germany. Most of the German dialogue is "translated" for our benefit, denoted by < brackets.
Except there are large swathes of dialogue, right around the freaking climax, which are not translated, so I had to sort of guess what was actually being said, as I didn't have easy access to a computer to get a translation at the time of reading.
Really bad decision there.
mvuijlst's review
3.0
Solomon Kane, in tegenstelling tot Kull, vind ik wél een wijs personage. De comic brengt de wereld ook helemaal zoals ik hem mij voorstelde: claustrofobisch donker, grimmig, niet zo fijn om in te vertoeven. Niet dat het meteen om extatisch over te worden is, maar ‘t zijn wel twee fijne verhaaltjes voor tussendoor.
rickklaw's review
4.0
Following their success with their new Conan comics, Dark Horse recently tackled the avenging Puritan. Writer Scott Allie and artist Mario Guevara expanded a [a:Robert E. Howard|66700|Robert E. Howard|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1210954603p2/66700.jpg] story fragment into the enjoyable graphic novel The Castle of the Devil. Allie successfully managed the subtle nuances of Kane's stoicism and world view. Guevara's art, while at first glance presenting a fresh approach to the character, actually hinders the tale with inferior storytelling and lack of character definition. Unlike the excellent Conan collections, this volume lacks a text piece introducing the far less famous Solomon Kane. Despite these flaws, The Castle of the Devil ranks among the finest Solomon Kane comics.
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