Warhammer 40,000: Will Of Iron #0 - Titan Comics

WARHAMMER 40,000: WILL OF IRON No. 0, October 2016

“Aimed at fans and newcomers alike” with its “wealth of compelling characters, species, and searingly-memorable imagery” this twelve-page periodical was packaged alongside the October 2016 edition of “White Dwarf” as a free gift, and advertised as the first in a series of “brand-new comics based in the world of Warhammer 40,000” to be published by “Titan Comics”. Sadly however, it is extremely doubtful that anyone unfamiliar with the “dark-gothic dystopian... universe” created in 1987 would have had much of a clue as to what George Mann’s supposedly “accessible science-fiction action" was actually about, apart from perhaps Astor Sabbathiel’s palpable doubts regarding the chaotic cleansing of the planet Exyrion by Baltus and his fellow Dark Angel Space Marines.

Indeed, as introductory tales go, the most useful aspect of this “exclusive” Prologue is disconcertingly the comic’s opening foreword within which the “Black Library” writer goes into some detail as to the background, past experiences and motivations of the title’s main protagonists. Such a detailed preamble genuinely proves essential reading prior to perusing this mini-series and certainly provides the female inquisitor’s troubled musings some additional gravitas; especially when the text establishes that the Emperor’s “relentless” agent “often engages in questionable methods to get to the truth.”

For those readers already immersed in the lore of the “iconic, power-armor-encased Space Marines” and their unending battle “against unspeakable forces of xenos” though, Issue Zero of “Warhammer 40,000: Will Of Iron” was undoubtedly a thoroughly entertaining look at the Imperium’s campaign within the “re-opened” Calaphrax Cluster and a terrifically dynamic introduction to Interrogator-Chaplain Altheous and his all-smiting power-fist. In fact, Mann’s story-line is so unrelenting in its intensity that the brevity of this tome must surely have had ‘40K fan-boy’ bibliophiles everywhere clamouring for more; “Those with righteousness in their hearts found salvation in the glory of the Emperor’s light.”

Tazio Bettin’s artwork for this comic is equally as pulse-pounding as the Lion’s Blade Strike Force landing amidst “the frothing, Daemonic intensity of Chaos.” Superbly detailed and sense-shattering the breakdowns genuinely portray all the mayhem wrought by the “seventh edition of the tabletop game”. Whilst the Italian’s incredibly revealing “Anatomy Of A Cover” article provides plenty of appeal for those interested in the penciler’s attempt to get “the strongest and most iconic visual” for the first issue’s composite cover.

Writer: George Mann, Artist: Tazio Bettin, and Colorist: Enrica Eren Angiolini