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Review of "The Reconcilers issue #1" from Viking Warrior Press
By: David Raymond
Date: Oct, 2010

Publisher: Viking Warrior Press
Writer: Erik Jensen
Art: Sheperd Hendrix
Cover: Neal Adams
Created By: R. Emery Bright, Jens Pil Pilegaard and Erik Jensen
Genre: SciFi/Action
Audience: T +13
Issue Reviewed: #1
Review Rating: 7/10

The oppressive future is run by galactic business conglomerates. Whether it is a publicly traded company or the "church", it is all the same. Wars are non-existent and lawsuits, disagreements and battles are quickly decided in a televised death sport. The story is focused on a small group of miners who come across a large supply of valuable minerals. The large, evil, arch-nemesis Company SOKOR hears about this and naturally wants the resources for itself and so attempts to steal it. Both groups end up in court and the decision will be made in the arena.

Sean Hexhammer is the primary protagonist for this story. He is an "ore jockey" or miner who left his, from what I can tell, successfully tragic life behind to lead a small group on a distant planet. His family was murdered by a competing company rather than working out the disagreement by the Executive Outcome court. In the first trade of the Reconcillers, Hexhammer is offered an opportunity to "reconcile" or exact revenge on those who wronged him in the past.

The idea of the future being run by powerful companies, with the church of course being one of them, is not a new idea. Neither is televised death matches sponsored by these companies. But the idea that wars and court cases are decided by physical combat is interesting. Erik Jensen, the writer, leads me to believe that humanity has sunk so low that violence, greed and depression is the only thing waiting for us. The introduction of the characters is quite depressing and really expresses the monotonous, dreary existence these ore jockeys live.

You can definitely see Shepherd Hendrix's artistic style in the character design and scenery. He is able to distinctly define the separate characters and personalities. We have the trucker, cowboy, tough black guy and the steeled daddy's little girl in the line-up. One major complaint I have about this book was the ending fight scene. Since the uniforms were so similar, and facial close-ups were abundantly shown to express the rage and fear the fighters were experiencing it was a bit confusing as to what was going on.

The placement of the panels in combination with the character designs made it difficult to determine if it the bad guys or the good guys who were dying. The choreography needed a little more definition.

Without giving away the ending I am wondering what could be next for the Reconcilers and for Hexhammer. The battle is definitely not over.