“Martial Law” tells the bloody tale of retired swordsman Garrison and the fugitive Red Monika as they face off against Maestro’s gang of supernatural killers-the Martial Paladins! Battle Chasers #10 is a the long awaited return of the series and the end result is an issue that feels like the wait isn’t quite worth it.

The return of Battle Chasers was announced in 2015 as part of a Kickstarter for a video game. In 2019, it was announced that series creator and artist Joe Madureira would no longer be drawing it with Ludo Lullabi stepping in, then general silence. So, it’s a general pleasant surprise that Battle Chasers #10 has actually been released after such a delay. Unfortunately, with too much time passed, the last issue was published in September 2001, the return feels more like a story readers may struggle to remember.

The comic attempts to catch readers up with a page dedicated to recapping where the story is at, but, while helpful, it doesn’t really replace reading the story itself. Instead, the comic is a movie that has already started and you attempt to dive into even though it’s already been playing for a 60% of it. It’s also not helped the writing is generally stilted with a sparse amount of dialogue and cuts in the scenes that jump around a bit too much at times. The result isn’t an entertaining read and rather frustrating as the underling coolness of it all is still there.

Ludo Lullabi‘s art doesn’t quite have the style of Madureira, but the look of the comic delivers a style that stands on its own. If Lullabi did this comic without the history, it’d get tons of buzz but as is, it’s compared to what was and what was initially promised. While good, it doesn’t quite match up to that. But still, there’s a flair to it that has me wanting to check out more of Lullabi’s work.

Battle Chasers #10 is frustrating. It isn’t the welcome return one would hope and instead feels like a series and project whose time has passed. Like many “classic” series revived, it doesn’t stand up so well and the nostalgia isn’t quite enough to really hook you. Overall, a bummer.

Story: Joe Madureira Art: Ludo Lullabi Letterer: Richard Starkings, Tyler Smith
Story: 7.0 Art: 8.5 Overall: 7.0 Recommendation: Pass

Image Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

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