In the magical land of Rune, Crystal City celebrates the changing of the guard.   Captain Raye Stone and his fellow guardsman stand vigil over a great orb, a sphere of immense power that holds all the magic in the universe. Their commander, a shady fellow named Gore, insists that the spells protecting the orb be reset on a yearly basis.  Stone detects something afoul, and his suspicions are correct.  Gore plans to use a shard of the orb to gain omnipotent control over the realm.

Gore succeeds in collecting a sliver of the orb, and that piece is enough to make him all-powerful.  The noble captain wrests the piece from the evil sorcerer and flees.  Raye must pass the totem to his younger brother Asa for safekeeping.  By jeopardous consequences Asa gets transported to a world more mysterious and dangerous than Rune.

This book is standard sword-and-sorcery fantasy fare.  Asa, the lead, doesn’t get much character development other than to play the reluctant neophyte who will one day rise to power.  The twist at the end provides promise for some interesting storytelling; however, there are many more stories and creatures to encounter in Rune.  Hopefully, Asa will return and allow readers a greater look into the imaginative world.

Issue one proved to be fun and entertaining, but stories like this devolve into cliché rapidly.  I worry that such interesting elements will be dismissed or underutilized in future issues.  Maybe, just maybe, this will be one of those fantasy stories that will be unique and create some enthralling scenarios to match the interesting characters.

But that’s a big maybe…

Score: 3/5

Writer: Marc Silvestri, Sumeyye Kesgin Artist: Betsy Gonia Publisher: Image/Top Cow Price: $3.50 Release Date: 6/4/14 Format: Print/Digital