Written by: Jonathan Duran, Johnny Hinkle, and Francois Soriano
Art by: Fernando Argosino, Demetres Panayidas, and Juan Luis Rincon
Publisher: Top Cow Productions and Image Comics
In the past few years, Top Cow Productions has held a talent contest to find new writers and artists that could create fresh properties for them and Image Comics. Not all of the entrants have successful submissions, but a select few are given the opportunity to create new comics for Top Cow. Artifacts: Lost Tales #1 is a collection of short stories from three of the contest runner-ups that partially follow the paths of three deadly weapons and the connected characters. These stories may be shorter and feel partially incomplete, but they still provide an entertaining comic.
The first part of Artifacts: Lost Tales #1 follows a detective named Sara as she works to transport a strange murderer to his new prison. This murderer has a habit of donning a red mask and throwing innocent women off of the George Washington Bridge. Unfortunately for Sara, her routine transportation quickly turns terrible when the criminal escapes and tries to contact an evil entity named Bael. Sadly, the story ends at this point, which leaves everything in a cliffhanger of sorts.
The second story continues to include information about the three deadly weapons; only it pivots and focuses on a doctor named Rachel who is desperately struggling to save a man’s life. Rachel is special in many ways, including her ability to see spirits after they leave their human forms. For some reason, a mysterious evil figure wants the Heartstone that possesses unknown power. Of course, Rachel isn’t willing to part with this mysterious artifact, which leads to a massive confrontation and the end of the short story.
The third story is by far the strangest of the group for multiple reasons. First, the comic is set during the Vietnam War while the others are all set during modern time. Second, this comic explains what I believe to be the Bloodsword in a very roundabout way that involves extra narration. Of course, the subject of this short story is only a guess because the writers left everything in question. All that’s clear is the fact that one of the soldiers loves going into the spider holes and hunting down Viet Cong soldiers. However, this soldier also shows a very strange ability to turn into a freakish monster with blades for arms. He may possess the Bloodsword, but this isn’t actually clear.
Artifacts: Lost Tales #1 is a mostly enjoyable collection of short stories, but it does have one shortcoming. The stories feel more like a proof of concept than a complete story. Granted, the abrupt endings could have been a deliberate choice on the writers’ parts, but the comics just feel incomplete. Thankfully, the stories are interesting enough to keep readers engaged despite these endings. Plus, each short story features a different art style that keeps the comic entertaining. While Artifacts: Lost Tales #1 may feel incomplete, the interesting stories and unique art styles still make this collection worth reading.
