Welcome to the latest installment of Preview Reviews.

This week we have a great book for you. We were able to review Barbaric: Hell to Pay #1 from Vault Comics.

You can find this book at your LCS or wherever you buy books on January 18, 2023.

Also the rest of the #NewNumberOnes for January are here.

Barbaric: Hell to Pay #1
Vault Comics
Written by Michael Moreci
Art by Nathan Gooden
Colors by Addison Duke
Letters by Jim Campbell
Cover Art by Gooden & Duke

Original Solicitation: 

Barbaric is back and headed straight to hell in an all-new arc so big and bloody, it’s getting an extra issue!

While Owen tames a dragon with an old friend, Soren and Steel cross paths with someone else from our cursed barbarian’s past…who isn’t looking nearly as friendly. Hell hath no fury like a woman stabbed through the heart by an ugly f***ing orc.

Oh, wait! Who’s carrying Axe?

PCS Review:

Hell Yeah! The Axe is Back! Listen, we love this property. This is the start of the third main arc. I think there were a couple of one-shots thrown in. If all out carnage and mayhem are things you enjoy, you will love this book. If humanity and exploring the meaning of regret, companionship, and honor are what you like to see in comics, this is the book for you.

Michael Moreci, Nathan Gooden, et al. have crafted a crazy story about a barbarous axe and the beings that surround it that just brings all kinds of emotions with it. This latest issue jumps the protagonists a few steps from where the last arc ended and ups the ante in terms of the peril that they find themselves in.

Nathan Gooden and Addison Duke work some masterful images to evoke strong emotional beats while also bringing the gore. Gooden’s panel layouts are particularly interesting and important to the flow of the story. Jim Campbell has been slaying on Barbaric from the start and keeps the high quality lettering coming in this issue.

If you are looking for a fun comic that will subtly draw you in emotionally, don’t miss this book.