Tales of Honor 1-5

Based on the bestselling military science fiction novels by David Weber, this original comic book series introduces spaceship captain Honor Harrington on the eve of her execution. From prison, Honor relays her epic adventures, starting with a command outpost to a hellish backwater star system that ends up being the lynchpin of an interstellar crisis that will bring war to her home planet.

As much as I do love scifi, I honestly don’t read too much in the way of actual novels in the genre.  It isn’t for lack of interest, but regardless, that leaves me missing out on plenty of great series.  Now that I’ve had the opportunity to check out the first, five issue arc of Tales of Honor, I know of one in particular I wish I had known about before.

Throughout this initial arc, we see Honor recall the series of events which eventually led to her current imprisonment and torture.  Starting from her first days commanding the HMS Fearless, we follow along with the triumphs and failures that were faced.  Relations with her new crew start off shaky for quite some time, but as time goes on, they become extremely loyal.  After being blackballed and left in charge of a place where careers go to die, Honor and her group face this challenge head on.  All seemed to be going well until a plot by the Havenites is uncovered.  Known for conquering everything they set their eyes on, Honor is forced into a situation that ultimately leads to her downfall.

Although the artist changed after issue one, the same paint style approach is kept consistent through the final issue.  It’s not one that I personally see too often and was quite enjoyable to see.  I really thought that the art was very beautiful in its fictional realism.  This was especially true with the many instances of sci fi visual effects like explosions and bright, flashy technology.

By the end of this first batch of planned comics, I was fully drawn into this world that David Weber has built.  With so many titles in the long running universe of books aka the Honorverse, I can understand why a comic adaptation has been long coming.  There’s even an Android game that I immediately tried afterwards (but unfortunately didn’t work too well).  With more arcs to be coming in the future, I would absolutely say this is a series worth grabbing before the next ones come out.  Volume one which collects 1-5 should be available in the next month.

**As a bonus incentive to introduce fans, both new and old, to the comics, Issue 1 will be available to download for FREE from Dropbox.

For more on the Tales of Honor comic, check out Top Cow.  Also check out Tales of Honor for more on the series including the mobile game.

Geek-o-Rama received a copy of this book for the purpose of this review. All thoughts, comments and opinions are those of the individual reviewer.