Warhammer 40000 #1 Featured Image Reviews 

Pick Of The Week: “Warhammer 40,000” #1

By | October 13th, 2016
Posted in Pick of the Week, Reviews | 2 Comments

By the might of the Emperor, it is finally here! Ever since Titan Comics announced they were going to be exploring the world of Games Workshop’s Warhammer 40,000 universe, I have not been able to wait to get my hands on it. Coming from writer George Mann, aritst Tazio Bettin, colourist Enrica Eren Angiolini and letterer Rob Steen, this first issue is set to dive in the rich and deeply dark world of Warhammer 40,000 as an introduction for readers to the grim darkness of the far future.

Read on below for our full spoiler free review of “Warhammer 40,000” #1 to find out why you should be hoping aboard the train to heart of the Imperium.

Written by George Mann
Illustrated by Tazio Bettin
After a thousand years, violent warp storms have receded from the Calaphrax Cluster, and an ancient battlefront in the war against Chaos has again been opened to the universe.

Now, multiple forces risk complete immolation to attack the sector – drawn by the lure of ancient relics, lost knowledge, and powerful megaweapons, buried for aeons. Chief among those forces, the fearsome Dark Angels, emerald-armored Space Marines, shock-troopers of the Emperor’s Imperium and indomitable defenders of humanity. But Chaos stirs in the warp, and the Dark Angels will not be alone for long!

Based in the universe of the ever-popular miniatures game, novels, and videogames, this new ongoing series is perfect for both the hardcore Warhammer 40,000 fan and the complete newcomer!

Warhammer 40,000 is weird.

It is, at its basic, a tabletop miniatures wargame. It is also a hobby of many to build, paint and collect models, to read the associated lore through game books and fiction novels tied to the world of the game. That world is a mishmash of dark science fantasy that captures a gothic, brutalist, dystopic future in which humanity has evolved into a religiously fascist empire that spans entire galaxy and uses genetic enhanced super soldiers to eradicate aliens, heretics and betrayers of the empire alike. It is literally the origin of the term grimdark which comes from the game’s tagline: In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war. It is a great deal of things at once and is a hobby that people enjoy in a great variety of ways.

How, then, does one distill that world into a comic book? Well, what publishers Titan Comics and creators George Mann, Tazio Bettin, Enrica Eren Angiolini and Rob Steen have done is similar to what Games Workshop’s dedicated publishing house, Black Library, have done for years: tell interesting stories with the game’s lore as a backdrop. The key to this first issue of the series, being the first part of the introductory ‘Will Of Iron’ arc, is to start small.

Warhammer 40,000 (or 40K, as I will reference it from now on) has an astonishingly large, sprawling universe to play in. It is an endless sandbox that has been filled just as much by official stories from Games Workshop, but the stories created by the hobbyists as the paint, model and play. With the first part of ‘Will Of Iron’, Mann and Bettin start small with a focus on a group of characters all linked by a common purpose.

While 40K is a game that can simulate battlefields with armies of a thousand strong or more coming together to wipe one another off the face of the galaxy, that’s not the level of action you’re going to find in this first issue. Instead, the scope is much more personal thanks to the focus on the Dark Angels chapter of Space Marines. The Dark Angels are defined by their quest for repentance and their need to erase their hidden shame from history and so the focus of this arc being focused on the uncovering of long lost secrets allows George Mann to script a small band of characters all brought together by these circumstances.

That does mean that this issue is a whole lot of set up. Like, a lot of set up. This issue, in essence, is to introduce readers to the world of 40K and the dark, atmospheric feel of the story being told as a way to ease them into the story.

Continued below

What that leads to is a first issue that might not exactly have as much action or intensity as one might expect from a Warhammer comic, but that instead introduces you to the world and the characters. It’s a fair amount of exposition, but it’s necessary information to understand the operation of this universe and it is given to the separate from the visual story being told through Tazio Bettin’s artwork.

A large portion of the book’s second half visually follows the descent of the Dark Angels onto the planet through their droppods which allows the issue to showcase what Bettin can do with this world. The artwork nails the desolate, brutalist and frankly chilling atmosphere this world creates.

There’s a fine balance on display from having to capture the details of the world, like the armour of the Space Marines or how their cruisers and gunships look, to capturing the atmospheric feel created by the world’s lore and Bettin nails it here. Even if this first issue’s story isn’t the most exciting thing in the world, the art is certainly worth exploring no matter what. Bettin’s linework is crisp and clean and the storytelling is simply laid out and unobstructed, but that doesn’t mean the art can’t have some fun with how the story is portrayed.

An interesting page that stuck with me even after closing the issue was one where the pages four panels where framed in the reflections of the burnished gold of Sabbathiel’s Inquisitorial Seal. This page showcases that split in how the story is told as Mann’s captions explore Sabbathiel’s point of view while the reflections in the Seal show a side to the Dark Angels that isn’t quite what they would lead you to believe they are. It’s a page that immediately sets the reader on edge and highlights the nature of characters in this world to lie about themselves and their intentions in order to achieve their goal.

The artwork is brought to life by the colours from Enrica Eren Angiolini. It’s easy to assume what 40K artwork should look like as it’s generally found to be in a painted style with dark, atmospheric colours that focuses on chilling grey tones with the few bright spots of colour being chipped and dented armour, the gleaming carapaces of aliens or a splattering of gore. Angiolini’s colours aren’t quite that, however. There’s a brightness to Angiolini’s colours, a vibrancy that isn’t generally associated with the world.

When the Dark Angels descend upon their target planet from their emerald green cruisers, their dropships cutting through the pale blue skies in streaks of fiery yellow and green, they have a grandiosity around them that may even convince you that these are the heroes sent by the glory of the Emperor’s might to cleanse this world.

It’s the greys and browns of the rotting, toppled and desecated buildings of the world below, of the mass graves and silent, judging statues, that shows just how dark this universe is. It’s a way of presenting the dystopic satire inherent to the world of 40K by having it undermine the vibrancy of the visuals depicted.

Overall, the first issue of “Warhammer 40,000” is a great introduction to the world for a great many people. Focusing on a smaller scale story with a tight knit group of character, George Mann and Tazio Bettin use this issue to introduce readers to the core concepts of the universe as it exists. That does mean that anyone expecting large scale battle right off the bat will be somewhat disappointed, but there’s hope that the deft character writing and the natural way so much of this information is presented can make up for that.

This is a fun issue that highlights some of the joy that can be found within Games Workshop’s worlds and if nothing else comes from this issue other than some of you discovering a new hobby, then it was all worth it.

Final Verdict: 8.0 – Sure, it’s not the most excited first issue you’ve ever read, but it’s the introduction to a universe unlike anything else. The 40K world is big enough for anyone interested in dark, dystopic sci-fi to find something to love and this first issue is just a taster.


//TAGS | Pick of the Week

Alice W. Castle

Sworn to protect a world that hates and fears her, Alice W. Castle is a trans femme writing about comics. All things considered, it’s going surprisingly well. Ask her about the unproduced Superman films of 1990 - 2006. She can be found on various corners of the internet, but most frequently on Twitter: @alicewcastle

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