It’s not easy being in charge – sorta.
Creative Staff:
Story: Greg Pak
Art: Miguel Angel Ruiz, Edvan Alves
Colors: Raul Angulo
Letterer: Nate Piekos
What They Say:
The Fallbacks now serve the Lady of Loudwater, and their first taste of authority is bittersweet. They finally have fame, fortune (or at least a steady paycheck), and the power to make real change. But when confronted with the injustices of the system they enforce, the Fallbacks must decide where their priorities lie. Plus, Cazrin makes a shocking discovery about the white dragon terrorizing the town!
The Review: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
With fond memories of when you used to get Dungeons & Dragons in a baggie package before the first red box launched decades ago, I’ve largely fallen out of the property for a good chunk of time but it still holds a lot of appeal. So a new series from creatives that I like means it’s easy to at least to try and dip my toes into it. Greg Pak has written a lot of stuff for Marvel that I’ve enjoyed, so seeing him on a fantasy series with some familiar ideas works well. Miguel Angel Ruiz takes over the pencils for Will Santos as Edvan Alves continues to work on the inking, and they bring this fantasy world to life with a lot of great designs and attention to detail throughout. This is accented by what Raul Angulo does with the color design that adds some great vibrancy, but also a good nod to the roughness of a time and place like this.
With the Fallbacks now serving as the Second Guard in the city, they’re introduced to the way the corruption runs there. It’s pretty open and explicit, and largely comes down to reminding them that the queen gets her cut first and foremost, making it something where those she favors are taken care of, and people do their best to curry favor. All of it is a ruse for the team since they want to rob the manor and have to do some investigating from the inside to run that, so it’s pretty straightforward. Some of them get into being the Second Guard a bit more than the others since there’s an air of power about it, but they’re largely not keen on how things are going, since everything can be fined. It’s also something where since we have such a large group of leading characters, nobody gets a lot of time outside of Tess, when you get down to it.
And Tess is certainly doing her part as the plan unfolds to distract Angrilyn, so you pretty much expect them to hit the sheets together by how well they dance together. We get a lot of nods to how the manor is set up through the team moving through it, but the plan goes out the window pretty fast when they discover a kobold is being brought in for entertainment. On the one hand, understandable injustice to fight against. On the other, it throws everything into instant chaos and makes all the setup and prep that we got feel utterly useless. And it barrels forth quick from there to get them and the kobold back outside to where they can get to the truth of the city and its deal with the dragon. Which isn’t a surprise in the slightest, but sets up for a busy and action-filled finale next issue.
In Summary:
First and foremost, the artwork for this is excellent, and you can see why it’s on a bi-monthly schedule to give it time to get done – and it’s worthwhile. It feels layed and lived-in for a lot of it, and with a big cast of characters, you just need the time. Unfortunately, the story continues to feel rushed and poorly paced, and too stuffed with characters to make anyone feel like you have a connection or anything more than a surface-level understanding of. They’re all got their quirks and design points that stand out, but that’s about it. It moves so fast from investigation and operating as the Second Guard to going to action as well that it just kind of throws its hands up in the air in a way. Or at least that’s what it feels like. It’s a lot, and very overstuffed, which is making it hard for me to enjoy and connect with even though I want to. Especially because of the artwork and designs for the characters.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: May 8th, 2026
MSRP: $4.99
Chris Beveridge
http://www.fandompost.com
Chris has been writing about anime, manga, movies and comics for well on twenty years now. He began AnimeOnDVD.com back in 1998 and has covered nearly every anime release that’s come out in the US ever since.
He likes to write a lot, as you can see.
