Comics: Marada The She-Wolf TPB (Titan Comics)

  "Her mother was the first born of Caesar. Her father, a prince in his own land, a slave in Rome.  At the age of four , Marada saw her father broken on the rack, disembowelled and, finally, drawn and quartered. It was a public execution and, though the Prince was a long time dying, he uttered not a sound. That night, Marada's mother fled the eternal City, taking her child to be raised free, far from the place that had claimed the life of her beloved. That was twenty years ago.

 The child is a woman now, and that woman a warrior known and respected throughout the empire"

 In the early 80s Chris Claremont, writer of the X-Men among others, recruited British artist John Bolton to collaborate on a new venture. Always keen to feature female leads, Claremont had in mind a Sword n Sorcery title centered on a beautiful, lethal, warrior-woman.
  Marada Starhair made her debut in Marvel's Epic Illustrated in 1984 and three stories were eventually published. Although these were collected for publication in 1985, nothing has been seen of the She-Wolf and her young sidekick since.  
  Until now.

 This TPB collects the three published stories in one handsome hardback, with generous notes explaining the history.  It's quite large by US standards, being the same size as the Annuals British kids used to get for Christmas. That means that John Bolton's artwork has plenty of room and chance to be appreciated properly.

See? Pretty cool, huh?

Marada and sidekick Arianrhod get stuck into some mooks. 

  John Bolton having his start in the UK comics industry probably explains why his art has a definite "European" feel to it. Maybe that's just me. Regardless, considering this series is 30 years old, it holds up well with contemporary stuff. It's not as fanservice-y as you might expect and the movement is always fluid and natural. 

  Let's get the obvious comparison out of the way. A quick peek at Wikipedia suggests that Marada had her genesis in an unpublished Red Sonja story. That might explain why all the clothes and armour are more Hyborian than Roman. Any lingering doubts are quickly shoved aside as Marada establishes her own character early on. 

  Interestingly, the book opens with a traumatised She-Wolf having something of an identity crisis and it takes something drastic to get her to break out the mail corset and broadsword again. 

   Chris Claremont characters do have a tendency towards verbosity mid-fight, and so it is here. Other than that, the story moves along nicely, makes the usual fantasy tropes interesting, and Claremont and Bolton mix action with some quiet moments. Marada and Arianrhod slot easily into a Mother/Daughter sort of relationship and incidentally, the team manage to make the youngster that rare thing: A teen sidekick that isn't bloody annoying!

Arianrhod has an emotional moment.

  The one big downside? Like an awful lot of fantasy series, it was never given a proper conclusion so these three tales are all you get. 

 If that doesn't put you off, then this TPB is well worth a read. 

Marada has an Octopus problem. 

Marada Starhair dressed for success.

That's all folks.