The people behind amazing comic book conventions such as Hartford ComiCONN, Colorado Springs Comic Con and, of course, Rhode Island Comic Con are getting into the comic business, Altered Reality Comics (AR Comics), with the debut of a NEW hero, The Rhode Warrior! This book has been created with the cooperation of fantastic talent, Chris Campana, Hannibal King, Ian Chase Nichols, Joe St. Pierre, Pat Broderick, Sean Forney and Jay Kennedy. They are an amazing group of creators that I’ve had the pleasure to meet at various cons and I was very excited to see that they worked together on this project, let’s check it out.
This is a family friendly, Sci-Fi Fantasy action comic book with a strong and heroic female protagonist, The Rhode Warrior, lovingly nicknamed Rhodie, with an Electric Mace that knock villain’s all over the place! We open in space with an alien race with no good intentions, seems their leader is trying to reach our plane of existence to wreak havoc on earth, and in a flash here they are! Everyone runs all different ways  in fear, including a police officer who headed straight to his precinct (scared witless). He arrives frantically to his precinct and weaves his tale hoping to be believed, but they already know what was happening, based on incoming reports. That very same police officer reckons we need Rhodie to rescue us, it is there that the cops then begin their tales of run-ins with Rhodie. There are different feelings over our hero,  good,  bad, is she hero, menace, I guess it’s all a matter of perspective as you see from the cops interaction.
Finally our hero appears, in “real-time”, to deal with the horrors that have walked in from the portal. She jumps right in the action, kicking ass and saving a civilian in distress at the same time. However the villain she battles, Big Horn (we met at him at the beginning) is no slouch! He is much more formidable than anticipated and very capable of holding his own against our heroine, and it appears for the moment he has the upper hand. Just when I expect to see Rhodie beat him to a pulp we are left with a cliff hanger, which left me wanting more!
This amazing creative team delivers a solid character, full of potential, that I want to learn more about. The writing is well done with believable dialogue and interactions between the characters. Â In regards to the art, as you go through the book, you can tell the differences between artists, but it was also pointed out, and each had a unique look to who Rhodie is. Some had great line work, others made her look a bit masculine in my opinion, but the overall theme to her look is carried over well between the artists. The inking and colors were fantastic as well, reminiscent of the vibrancy of 90’s comics, colorful and in your face in a very good way!
This opening salvo to the world of Altered Reality Comics with The Rhode Warrior is a great start for this new label! I give it a 4/5.
[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
Written/Co-Created by: Ian Chase Nichols
Interior Art by: Chris Campana, Hannibal King, Ian Chase Nichols, Joe St. Pierre
Cover by: Pat Broderick and Sean Forney
Pinup by: Jay Kennedy
[Assistants: Griffin Ess, Jay Kennedy, Robert Carmona]
24 pages Ӣ ALL-AGES
Publisher AR Comics (Altered Reality)
The Rhode Warrior #1 will be available exclusively at Rhode Island Comic Con, November 11 to 13 at the Rhode Island Convention Center and Dunkin Donuts Center arena. Copies of the premiere issue may also be pre-ordered through the convention“s website, www.ricomiccon.com.
Author Profile
- I'm Al Mega the CEO of Comic Crusaders, CEO of the Undercover Capes Podcast Network, CEO of Geekery Magazine & Owner of Splintered Press (coming soon). I'm a fan of comics, cartoons and old school video games. Make sure to check out our podcasts/vidcasts and more!
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