WARHAMMER 40K: SISTERS OF BATTLE #1: Look to the Sky Just Before You Die

“The Blood of the Heretics Covers the Ground”

Marvel has tapped into a science fiction vein that has been waiting to be discovered and explode with endless possibilities. That vein is none other than Games Workshop’s Warhammer 40K line. Their first offering was the well-received Warhammer 40K: Marneus Calgar. Their latest offering, The Sisters of Battle, penned by Torunn Gronbekk, continues the tradition of spectacular storytelling that has become synonymous with Warhammer’s massive roster of characters and their stories. 

Torunn Gronbekk sets the tone as if you were watching a game of 40K unfold before you. For anyone that has played or watched a game, you know they can get pretty intense as the players are boiling over with their passion for the game. Torunn Gronbekk brings that same intense passion in Sisters of Battle. The narrator takes us through the twists and turns of Siscia’s dire plight and the need for the Sisterhood to figure out how to dispel the violence and figure out what is really going on. I really enjoyed Torunn’s approach to the story in how she produced a solid stepping stone regardless of the reader’s knowledge of Warhammer lore while satisfying the hunger of Warhammer veterans. 

Edgar Salazar comes in with cannons blazing and does not miss the target. From panel to panel, we dine on a visual smorgasbord of great detail that captures the character’s pain and anger while bringing the same passion to the littlest detail in the armor and weaponry. Warhammer 40K is a dark and grim world, and Salazar’s art really successfully tells the world’s dark and grim story. Arif Prianto comes in like a man possessed (as he usually does); his coloring is topnotch and really makes the panels come to life. Prianto’s masterful approach to the Warhammer world perfectly captures what is going on in the story. From the blood-red sky, the battle-ravaged armor, Prianto’s coloring wraps a beautiful war-ravaged bow on an excellent Warhammer story.