Writer – Bill Mantlo
Artist – Steve Geiger
Inker – Joe Del Beato, Keith Williams
Colours – Bob Sharen
Letters – Rick Parker

Bill Mantlo and Steve Geiger begin the fifth issue of Sectaurs with a bit of action as Spidrax is still in pursuit of Prince Dargon and his companions. Despite being defeated twice already, Spidrax is not ready to give up for he has not only something to prove but a lot to gain. The heroes are tired of running and yet they continue to do both that and to fight when needed for if they do not, it could mean the end of The Shining Realm. While Dargon is in the midst of battle, a strange cloud appears and nobody seems to know what to make of it and yet inside is an entire magical world where Liana, queen of the fairy folk is looking to gain a little help against the Underlings that threaten her realm. So it is that the cloud ‘rescues’ the Sectaurs and the queen heals Dargon of the wounds he received against Spidrax. Mantlo then reveals a possible darker side of Liana as the heroes go to work at ridding the fairy land of its enemies in some exciting scenes brought to life thanks to the artist on the book, the aforementioned Steve Geiger who makes it all quite vivid and thrilling. As for those who reside in the Dark Domain, they continue to question whether Dargon is dead, thanks to that cloud, as well as continuing their infighting, all of them looking to gain some kind of dominance over the other whether to impress Empress Devora or to simply replace her. The entire affair wraps up with Dargon, Pinsor, Mantor and the rest of the team taking care of the Underlings who were not as much of a threat as one might have thought and received some magical gifts in return from Liana and her people. This was a fun issue in the series which never really slowed down from the pace Mantlo had set outright from the start but it would have been nice to see a little progress on their quest, of which there was very little. That being said, there were some noteworthy moments that took place during all of this action that could have consequences further down the line, it merely remains to be seen. Again, a fun story overall but one that simply needed to focus more on the main plot rather than veering off so soon.

3.5 out of 5