Comic Review // Macragge's Honour by Dan Abnett

Typically, Wednesdays are my Audiobook adventure days, when I sit back and enjoy a bit of escapism. Unfortunately, this week, I failed to do this. Work has been ramping up, and with that, there has been no real quality listening time. But I managed to read an additional comic this week, so I am going to post about that instead. Warning: This is set further into the timeline than we have read, so it may contain spoilers.

Initially published in 2014 and 128 pages long, this is, I believe the first Horus Heresy Graphic Novel. Let's read the fluff before we get into the review.

Fluff: In the aftermath of the Word Bearer’s attack on Calth, the wounded Kor Phaeron flees aboard his battle-barge Infidus Imperator, intent on returning to the war that now rages across the entire galaxy. But the Ultramarines First Chapter Master Marius Gage – under orders from Roboute Guilliman himself – has taken the mighty flagship Macragge’s Honour in pursuit, and the battle to come will surely be remembered for all eternity. Cut off from their Legions and with no hope of reinforcement, the crews of the two vessels stalk one another to the very edge of reality... and beyond.

Review

Let's get the obvious out of the way first. This is a follow-up short story to Know No Fear by Dan Abnett. For those who may not have read the full story, the book has three lines that sparked the imagination.

"The Word Bearers battle-barge Infidus Imperator turns in the debris-rich belt of Calth nearspace, ships dying in flames behind it. It engages its drive and begins a long, hard burn towards the outsystem reaches. As it accelerates away, raising yield to maximum, the Macragge's Honour turns in pursuit, its main drives lighting with an equally furious vigour. It is the beginning of one of the most infamous naval duels in Imperial history."

Well, from this text, Black Library decided to create a graphic novel, which was a strange choice, to be honest. The book handles the initial chase between the ships, the boarding action, daemons, cultists, and the classic heroic moments—a lot of action to cover in such a short comic.

Unsurprisingly Dan Abnett creates a solid script for Neil Roberts to bring to life. I feel the story would have been more epic if it was written rather than drawn but that is the only real fault I have with the piece. Roberts' artwork is packed full of detail and every page is a stunning piece of artwork. I later found out that each panel is hand-painted! I can only imagine how much work this took to complete. The ships looked stunning, the marines looked like the cover art of the novels and large battles looked chaotic and awesome.

Overall, I feel this was an excellent addition to the series. It was a complex story to portray in comic format, but this was a good attempt. I can assume that the lack of more graphic novels must mean this fell on its face in popularity, as they haven't made any other tales into graphic novels. A bit of a shame but rather unstandable.

As always thanks for coming over and reading my ramble. Cheers for checking and feel free to sign up to get notifications.