Warhammer 40,000: Will Of Iron #5 - Titan Comics

WARHAMMER 40,000: WILL OF IRON No. 5, April 2017

Returning “with a brand-new story arc” this particular edition of “the mighty ongoing series” must surely have befuddled and bewildered the vast majority of its readers, even those whose hobby-time is utterly immersed within the “Warhammer 40K” tabletop miniature wargame’s “dystopian science fantasy universe.” For whilst this comic’s foreword provides some semblance of an explanation as to what actually happened at the conclusion of the title’s previous story-arc, George Mann’s script for “Revelations” delivers little more than a seemingly random sequence of events which occur with minimal rhyme or reason.

For starters, just how did Baltus miraculously outlast the destruction on Exyrion when “he ignited an ancient weapon” which scoured “the surface with powerful energy” and presumably annihilated the majority of Dark Angels, Iron Warriors and Titans of Tintaroth battling there? Admittedly, the comic does subtly intimate that the armament only ‘cleansed’ the planet’s exterior, so potentially the space marine could have survived the device’s activation underground, even though he was stood right beside it at the time. But that doesn’t then explain how he endured his squad’s vulnerable position being overrun by hulking great chaos space marines like Beoth, nor rationalise how the “sole survivor” is later depicted seemingly uninjured and falling “back on his training” to seek “solace in ritual”..?

Disappointingly, the “superstar” writer’s preoccupation with exploring Inquisitor Sabbathiel’s grotesque daemonhost-fuelled dreams doesn’t lend itself to a comprehendible flow for this twenty-two page periodical either, as Astor’s irrational vision of a “foul cult” forming on Quintus appears far too coincidental a sub-plot when one considers that her ‘antagonist’ Master Serphaus has already independently elected to visit the self-same world. Such lazy penmanship on behalf of the Darlington-born author would arguably be a bit more palatable if it wasn’t for the fact that the Dark Angels commander appears to almost whimsically “lead the mission to Quintus myself” for no discernible reason other than to ensure Interrogator-Chaplain Altheous is deployed elsewhere.

Fortunately, Tazio Bettin’s incredible pencilling for Issue Five of “Warhammer 40K: Will Of Iron” still means that this “Titan Comics” publication is well worth reading, with the freelance illustrator’s sketching of a horrific ‘eye-ball vomiting’ nightmare scene arguably being worth the cover price alone. Indeed, the Italian’s final half-page panel, depicting a party of acrobatic Harlequins racing through some woodland provides precisely the sort of colourful, eye-catching cliff-hanger that any Craftworld Eldar fan would surely go mad for.

The regular cover art of "WARHAMMER 40,000: WILL OF IRON" No. 5 by Connor Magill