Off! the Shelf - 'Scion - Conflict and Conscience'

Reviewed by Justin Colburn & Keayn Dunya

Writer - Ron Marz

Penciler - Jim Cheung

Inker - Don Hillsman II

Colorist - Caesar Rodriguez

Letterer - Dave Lanphear

Ethan, the youngest Prince of the Heron Dynasty, has just turned 21 and is to fight Bron, Prince of the Raven Dynasty, in a ceremonial tournament that has replaced warfare in modern society. During the battle something goes wrong and the mysterious mark on Ethan's arm causes his blade, which is supposed to be unable to inflict a serious wound, to cuts and scars Bron's face, permanently. As retribution for his crime Ethan is supposed to be taken captive for one year by the Raven Dynasty, but is instead freed by a mysterious girl named Ashleigh who asks for his help. Ethan must decide between fulfilling his duty as a Heron Prince or following what he believes in his heart is a noble cause.

Justin

A few years ago Joe Madureira began a series called Battle Chasers which created a demand for a good fantasy comic book series. Joe Madureira was unable to commit any serious attention to his comic so it died away, but the demand it had created still remained. A year or two afterwards a new company called Crossgen began putting out Scion, and the void was filled.

Scion is a combination of science fiction with elements of fantasy to create a lush world that is both technologically advanced and magical. The story is very character motivated; Ethan grows from being an idealistic young boy into a practical man before your eyes as he is faced by many difficult decisions along his path, many of which leave him wondering if he has chosen correctly. As the reader you can feel the weight of his decisions as he makes them and it causes you to identify with the character. Marz has given all the characters layered personalities, everyone is with Ethan for their own purposes and everyone has their own secrets. Every hero as only as good as his villain and Bron is the perfect opposition to Ethan. As you see Ethan mature over time you also see Bron slip further and further into madness.

There are very few comics I try to read on a monthly basis as they ship; Scion is one of those few. Its story pulls you in and makes you care about the characters involved. With some monthly series it grows to feel like more of an obligation than a desire to keep reading, but at the end of every Scion issue I always find myself asking, "What happens next?"

Keayn

"It's the struggle, not the victory that makes the hero." That one sentence sums up what Scion is all about. In the forward to Scion, Mark Alessi talks about the current trend in comics. Heroes win their battles at any cost with little thought to who could get hurt in the melee. I have always been a fan of the struggle, the journey that defines a person, more so than the ending. It's what the characters do on the way that makes them more interesting than what they do when they get there. The mission of Crossgen was to bring this journey back into the genre. Scion is one of the cornerstones of that legacy.

The world of Scion is truly unique, a mixture of science and fantasy that actually works. More often than not when the two are mixed it creates a sort of confused paradigm that lacks purpose and originality. Scion avoids that. Each character is also tackled in a new way. Everyone has individual motivations and agendas. These agendas are even evident in the actions they take and how they treat Ethan. Even as Ethan struggles to deal with what is right and what is wrong. I am also curious about the Powers-That-Be and how they factor into things.

Scion seems to be one of the few books out there that deal with the main character questioning his own motivations. Not only to the end of how to defeat his enemy but also how his actions affect others. I look forward to continuing the series to see how Ethan fares. I don't think I'll run right out and pick it up, but if I see it I'll probably pick it up.