All hail Warlash! He’s the star of Asylum Press’ new future-cop comic WARLASH: DARK NOIR, two issues of which have been released thus far. He looks a little like Judge Dredd, albeit with a rather imposing scorpion tail on the back of his armored uniform. He also, as one would expect, kicks serious ass.
Both issues contain four stories — a mix of self-contained and continuing tales. Warlash apparently doesn’t need an introduction, because the first issue begins in medias res with “Phlegm Fatale,” with him attempting to save the requisite damsel in distress from a multi-tentacled monster.
“Wormwar” has him going up against giant hookworms, while “The Demon” pits Warlash against a many-mouthed devil conjured up by some young people at a seance. The most overtly fantasy tale is “Enter the Bladeviper,” in which Warlash faces Bladeviper — a former KGB agent turned whip-wielding temptress of the underworld — and her army of mutants. And a new designer drug turns users into killer squid creatures in “The Transformation of Eduard Yan.”
True to the subtitle, Warlash narrates like a noir detective, so the series generally plays things serious. The exception is the wonderfully outlandish “Grubbs,” a criminal whoremonger so festering with sexually transmitted diseases that his very touch burns one’s flesh.
All stories are well-written by creator and Asylum publisher Frank Forte, while art is excellent all around, by Forte, Steve Mannion, Szymon Kudranski, Marcin Ponomarew and Nenad Gucunja. The pages of WARLASH: DARK NOIR really come alive with bright colors, thanks to a high-quality printing job — a step most indie outlets forego.
I won’t fault you if WARLASH was under your radar — after all, I’d never heard of it until it showed up at my door — but I challenge you to change that. If you’re into comics with loads of action, a heady dose of sci-fi and, most important, a pervading sense of fun, DARK NOIR won’t disappoint. —Rod Lott
