Writer – Bill Mantlo
Artist – Mark Texeira
Inker – Joe Del Beato, Art Nichols
Colours – Bob Sharen
Letters – Joe Rosen

Bill Mantlo, no stranger to licenced properties having scripted Rom and Micronauts, hops on board Sectaurs with Mark Texeira pencilling and they pack a lot into the first issue which is not necessarily a bad thing but there is much to take in. There are two lands on the planet Symbion – The Shining Realm and the Dark Domain and at the moment they have a peace treaty between them with a sort of neutral zone that borders each of their lands. The Empress Devora, being evil and such, is not altogether happy with peace and so sends her men out to devastate a small town under the guise that it is harbouring heretics to get around the so-called treaty. Elsewhere, Prince Dargon is out hunting and having fun, refusing to rule his kingdom in the absence of his father, delegating that to his uncle. In the small town that is ultimately taken over by the villains, there is indeed a Heretic among them and he makes a quick exit so that he might warn his people while he searches out a Hyve – a place of power used by the Ancients. Unknown to him, he has been followed and Skulk of the Dark Domain, who in turn was followed by Spidrax and Waspax and they get inside which ultimately leads to some devastating storms across all of Symbion. Two things ultimately happen out of that – Empress Devora wants her men to find more of these Hyves so that she might claim their power for her own before anyone else can get to them while back in the Shining Realm, Dargon’s uncle does nothing making Dargon himself rise up into the role he was always intended to have after hearing a truth about the Heretics, the storms and his father. Mantlo weaves a lot of threads throughout this tale, so many that it is almost hard to keep track of and yet he does so deftly enough that by the end of the book it all comes together with the two sides, those of Dargon and those of Devora, both looking for the same thing and yet divided on what to do with it. One has to wonder just how the Heretics will play into all of this though if one were to go by what has been offered up so far, they are not fans of those who live in the Dark Domain which gives Dargon and his people a slight edge. With some solid artwork from Texeira who is given a lot to put down beneath his hand, the first issue of Sectaurs is a win on all fronts.

4 out of 5