Writer: Craig Maloof
Artist: Alex Lancaster
Publisher: Ronin Studios
Story: Typhi is your normal teenager. He goes to school, enjoys his friends company and has an interest in the ladies. While coping with the death of his parents makes life hard, it’s nothing compared to what Typhi eventually faces. Earth is suddenly invaded by an alien race called the Rogk. A secret gathering apparently has big plans for Typhi in protecting this planet, but Typhi doesn’t know this yet.
Comments: The first issue of Tyr starts off strong. It’s a commendable effort of Maloof & Lancaster’s parts for their first foray into the industry. For the most part, the writing flows throughout the issue, and the artwork provides some unique visuals that bring the storytelling up a notch. Issue two improves on both parts as the story weaves a bit more, and there’s relatively nothing bad I can say about it. The artwork stays fairly consistent throughout the issue as well. By the time I got to issue three, I saw a great improvement in Maloof’s writing, mainly how he’s structuring this massive epic. The art on issue three got a bit scratchy towards the end.
To be more detailed on the story, for only three issues into a fifty-plus issue series, Maloof effectively establishes the setting of the story and sets things into motion that will have an effect later on. In reading the first three issues, a few lines of dialogue struck me as nonessential and some seemed that they would be better served as captions. The writing kicks off strong and steadily improves as it progresses. The script gets tighter with each issue. The dialogue between Typhi and his friends I found to be very realistic and easily flowing. The speaking of the Rogk however, I couldn’t get into all that well. For an alien race, even as advanced as they probably are, they have an impeccable understanding of the English language.
The manga-style art isn’t something that greatly appeals to my tastes in general. But putting that bias aside and taking it for what it is, Lancaster starts off strong in the first issue and maintains the pace for issue two. Every character in the book looks distinct and kept a place in my memory. The use of tones throughout the series accentuated the art in a great way; giving a sense of depth and shadows to things other than simply filling blacks. Probably my biggest rant on the art would be how it takes a header in quality towards the end of issue three. Some figures are less complete and fluid, and the line work gets pretty scratchy. It’s a possibility that it has some bearing on the story. What it could be I have no clue, but it was a bit of a turnoff to see it start off so well than stumble a bit. Hopefully it’ll pick back up with the next issue, I have faith.
Overall: Tyr shows a lot of promise and also raises some interesting questions. My two main curiosities are how Typhi’s arrow shirt plays into things and if the title of the book has any connection to the god, Tyr, or significant meaning in the story. The writing takes one or two miniscule stumbles but steadily improves. The art, while unique and starting strong, takes a hit towards the end and that was one of the main things that disappointed me with the three issues.
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