It’s easy to wonder how “The Forged” came to be. Was this the pitch for a Warhammer 40K story that lost the branding? Or is it a knowing pastiche, acknowledging the famous inspiration while doing its own thing. Or maybe it’s honest criticism, showing readers what this creative team would have done if they had created the property. Whatever the reason for its existence, “The Forged” should satisfy both Warhammer fans and the Warhammer curious.
Written by Greg Rucka and Eric TrautmanCover by Mike Henderson
Illustrated by Mike Henderson
Colored by Nolan Woodward
Lettered by Ariana MaherThe Forged are trapped on the hellscape of Gehenna where the locals are very hungry. CrazyJo loses an arm. Again.
I’m not crazy, the similarities are thuddingly obvious. In “The Forged” a vast and brutal human empire spans the galaxy, constantly at war. Right off the bat though, where Warhammer has an immortal/undead emperor, this is a universe with an eternal empress, who fills sensitive roles with clones of herself. The Forged team at the center of this first story is called Scimitar-3, and the planet they are investigating is called Gehenna D-54-C. The grimdark space vibes are irrepressible.
If you’d have pointed a gun at me a year ago and shouted, “How would Greg Rucka reboot Warhammer 40K?” I would have flinched (I ain’t a space marine), but then I would have guessed, “He’d swap the leadership from men to women and he’s fill the story with beefy hot chicks,” I would have been right.
I don’t know enough about the biography of the guy to tell you how bonafide his feminist credentials are, but Rucka has a type. I sometimes call his oeuvre “empowered underwear babes,” because that’s always where he ends up. Books like “Lazarus,” “Black Magick,” and “The Old Guard” are full of ‘em. These are the kind of characters the internet would beg to step on their neck. Your mileage may vary, but I tend to find Rucka’s work successful. He’s probably fetishizing strong women sure, but not at the expense of character depth. It’s only when you look at the broader pattern that you see it.
The most important creator who controls the tone, and more importantly the gaze, is the artist. In this case, that is Mike Henderson. I’ve seen Henderson’s work on Marvel books like “Captain America” and “Wolverine,” and I didn’t think much of it then. But in the creator-owned space, I can see that Henderson has got a lot of talent! His alien worlds feel like worlds. His action is explosive. Cartoonishly so! Everything has a scritchy-scratch vibe, which conveys a feeling of fragility. That’s kind of weird considering the story is about women in indestructible armor causing ridiculously huge explosions, but it works thematically.
I guess a common feature in Rucka’s comic is that even though the strong woman at the center seems like an unknowable badass, there are little moments that show her insecurity and humanity. But only in private! Henderson draws space armor that looks like it’s about to fall apart. Everything seems kind of rusty and brittle. And on the battlefield, the Forged discover their true selves. You probably know how these military stories work.
Coming in at twice the length of a regular floppy issue, “The Forged” is a lot of comic. Maybe too much? There are a lot of silent pages filled with kinetic action. And in truth, it’s kind of nice to let a fight breathe in a comic. 22 page issues only have so much page time to devote to a single dust-up, so the pacing starts the feel familiar. Here we get a full on self-indulgent John Wick fight. Still, I would have rather spent that time learning more about the world and the characters. I guess that’s what the other issues are for.
There’s a lot of people who would enjoy “The Forged,” and it’s pretty good! Rucka fans shouldn’t skip the series; it’s the freshest comic to bear his name in ages. Even if you’ve never cracked open a Rucka book, maybe you’ve seen The Old Guard? That was a good flick! Or maybe you have read every single one of the thousands of Warhammer novels and you are looking for something new? I would point any of those hypothetical people towards “The Forged,” it’s a good looking comic with a strong sense of genre.
Final Verdict: 8.0 – The Forged has enough originality to hook you, but enough familiarity to make you feel at home.
