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Dante - The Romanov Dynasty
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17th
March 05 |
Nikolai Dante -
The Romanov Dynasty
By Robbie
Morrison, Simon Fraser, Henry Flint, Charlie Adlard, Chris Weston
Buy
this book from Amazon.co.uk
What to Expect:
The first collection of adventures featuring everybody's favourite Russian
rogue, in which the gentleman thief learns about his imperial background...
Review by Gavin
Hanly
At various times
throughout 2000AD's history, there have been characters that have become almost
instant hits and sparked off a longevity that puts other lesser tales to shame.
Looking back at these truly classic characters, there are actually much fewer
than you might imagine. Characters such as Slaine, Rogue Trooper and Strontium
Dog all had that special something that made it clear very early on that these
tales deserved be in the comic for a very long time. But it's a rare thing indeed.
Caballistics Inc.is the latest one to show distinct lasting promise, but the last
really big 2000AD success has to be Nikolai Dante.
Part of the reason
for Dante's instant success with the readers can be down to the opening spread
from the first tale in this hefty collection. Within a Star-Wars-like 3 paragraphs,
Morrison completely sets up the scene for Dante's world with an introduction to
the two main factions: Vladimir the Conqueror and the House of Romanov. The state
of the empire is set out, and there's a brief insight into the psyche of a character
who would soon become beloved of 2000AD readers. This is backed up with a magnificent
vista of Neo Russian architecture and brief sketches of main characters yet to
be introduced.
It's a perfect
introduction and I can't quite fathom out why other writers haven't tried this
tactic. In recent times, Synnamon being a classic example, the weekly has used
the "in this prog" section to set the scene - leading to the initial
confusion of the vast amount of readers who skip that part. If the comic really
wants to get into the action fast, as well as setting up a brand new world - the
Dante method is clearly the way to go.
Another thing that
becomes clear early on is that the scope for Dante promises to be huge. After
all, the two page spread and introduction speaks "epic" and it isn't
too long before the strip starts delivering. We quickly start to see how the court
of the Tsar is run and are soon introduced to Jena Markov, who is to be possibly
the most important character in the Nikolai Dante tales next to Dante himself.
The Tsar is portrayed as a bastard of the highest order in no time at all and
when we meet the Romanovs - they're not much better. And then, there's Dante.
Dante himself could
have become very irritating, very quickly. There's a clear streak of what could
be interpreted as arrogance that runs through him and the devil-may-care attitude
could easily have worn thin fast. But Morrison plays his lead character very carefully.
Against a background where there's always a complete bastard waiting to take him
down whichever way he turns, you can't but help stand up for the man willing to
buck the system, whatever his questionable motives. And every so often, Morrison
lets a flicker of the "real" Dante show through the facade that he's
built up for himself. This is much more evident when reading the collected version.
As things progress, we get a gradual feeling that there's really much more to
Dante than a common thief, But Morrison is clever enough do only show the odd
glimpse of this in the first book. So there's real evidence of character building
throughout that becomes much clearer in the books that follow.
But perhaps more
than anything, it's a refreshing change to have a hero that actually seems to
enjoy what he's doing. OK, Dante is often press-ganged into the missions for the
Romanovs and there's a reluctance there, but most of the time - when in deep shit,
Dante seems to be having a whale of a time. This is in sharp contrast to the moodier
heroes of 2000AD like Dredd, Alpha or Rogue. Dante loves a good fight, perhaps
a little too much, occasionally getting in well over his head, and it's this aspect
of the character that makes him such an instant success.
In addition to
Dante, there's the aforementioned supporting cast. Jena proves early on to be
a particularly strong addition, with her clear dislike and mistrust of Dante placing
herself clearly in the frame for "future love interest". She sparks
off Dante nicely and, in a similar fashion, we gradually start to see through
her own facade as it becomes clear that she isn't the bastard that her father
is, by any stretch. Again, this is developed later on, but you can see the threads
laid out here.
Other characters
like the Romanovs themselves, all introduced together but developed later, are
equally intriguing. Satisfyingly there seem to be very few throwaway characters,
with even the unfortunate Arbatov family and their untimely ends working as a
great running gag. Other smaller characters like Cauis have great impact in a
short amount of time and, of course, there is Dante's crest. The crest hasn't
been used to much effect in recent Dante tales, but here it's on full sarcastic
assault, managing to burst Dante's bubble at every point.
And then, there's
the art.
Simon Fraser is
an artistic genius and there isn't a frame of his artwork in this collection that
is anywhere near sub-standard. He imbues the action scenes with kinetic energy
and this quickly becomes one of the strips strengths. The many action scenes are
where Nikolai Dante could have come a cropper, but Fraser deals with them with
ease. Whether it's racing from rampart to rampart as a Gentleman thief to a troupe
of raining elephants, it all become a wonderful spectacle that you couldn't imagine
anyone else pulling off. Plus there's the amount of extraordinary design and detail
that goes into the architecture of Russia, seamlessly fusing imperial history
with high tech science. There are many, many scenes where you almost gasp at the
detail that has gone into some of the pages.
There's also the
care which has clearly gone into the characters themselves. All of them are clearly
defined, from the rulers of the two houses down to the bizarre aliens like Pyre
which occasionally pepper the scenes. It's this instant recognition factor which
helps a character-heavy piece like Dante and is yet another one of the reasons
why it takes off so fast. John Burns has proven himself to be an excellent companion
to Fraser on the series in the latter stories, but Fraser brings something to
the table that fits so perfectly. Hopefully he hasn't left the world of Dante
forever and we'll sooner or later see him working on his co-creation again.
The other artists
are also much more than "fill-ins" with Weston and Adlard in particular
putting in fine performances. Flint's work is good, but he's clearly come a long
way since this was first printed and his art is missing some of the rougher edges
and slightly insane design work that his later work showed.
Overall, then?
The usual niggles about "extras" like an introduction by the writer
or artist remain, especially when you see the background information that Simon
Fraser gives on his official site. But these are small issues when we're finally
getting a full ongoing collection of the Nikolai Dante adventures.
A complete triumph
and absolutely unmissable by anyone who dares to call themselves a 2000AD fan,
or indeed a comics fan in general.
I can't recommend
this highly enough.
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this book from Amazon.co.uk
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