For almost as long as there have been Warhammer games from Games Workshop, fans the world over have asked the company many times why it hasn’t brought out its own comic books based on the rich and splendid backgrounds of both Warhammer fantasy and Warhammer 40,000! Almost 9 years ago now, Games Workshop announced that it was going to honour the fans wishes and bring out its own comic strips. Those of you who have been in the hobby for a while may well remember the late and often lamented Citadel Journal, which ran for only a few issues, but did bring us the adventures of Kalab Darkk. Darkk was GW’s first attempt at using a character from one of its games and combining it with a professional comic book artist, Brett Ewins, better known for his work on 2000ad one of Britain’s best loved comic books of the past 20 years.

Kalab Darkk was a hit with the fans and even spawned his own range of figures (albeit a small one), perhaps it was the Moorcockian overtones of a doomed champion of Chaos that appealed to the fans, or maybe just the fact that GW had given them something that they wanted, but a hit he was.

From 1989 to 1991 a series of pictures appeared in White Dwarf from the so called Warhammer Comic book, all of these where in black and white and without text, but the pictures told the a thousand stories and served to whet the appetite of the fans. Then for a long time nothing at all.

Last year Games Workshop began to expand its already dominant empire with the introduction of Inferno a product written entirely by fans and not the companies own studio staff. Andy Jones the product developer of the company and the man behind some of the best (and worst!) ideas that have graced the companies shelves was seen at the UKAC comics fair talking to some of the greatest names in the world of comics and talk began to surface of an upcoming comic book to go on sale alongside White Dwarf and the fledgling Inferno. All this came to fruit with White Dwarf’s February 98 issue when a free copy of Warhammer Monthly issue zero was given away free.

Issue zero gave us a glimpse of what was to come and the future looked good. Games Workshop had recruited some of the best comic artists and writers in the UK and let them loose with their own creation, closely scrutinised by Andy Jones and keeping strictly within the timeframes, history and mythos of the games. A totally black and white format (not that popular with the states but common place in the UK) was chosen over a full colour format, and although the zero issue (now sought after by the way) was thin and only give us a glimpse at the events due to unfold.

Issue one had one of the best depictions of a Space Marine that this reviewer has ever had the pleasure of seeing. Drawn and coloured by the talented hands of Scottish master comic artist Colin MacNeil (award winning artist for America, voted the number one Judge Dredd story of all time and best known for his depictions of Chopper the sky surfer) and gave us our first look at Captain Leonatos a disgraced Blood Angel Marine and his warriors as they strive to clear the tarnish from their name and reclaim a sacred relic lost in battle with Orks. Bloodquest is turning out to be one hell of a story with a compelling script by Gordon Reninie that follows the trail that the Marines must travel in their ship the Exile. Crisp and clear art show just why MacNeil is in such demand and most of the drawings wouldn’t be out of place in a Codex.

But 40K isn’t the only thing covered in Warhammer Monthly. Fantasy gets its own stories too with the story of Darkblade, a Dark Elf under the possession of Chaos and used to serve its foul means. Shades of Kalab Darkk seem to surface once again when reading this story and the art work, this time by Kev Hopgood is equally as sombre and dark.

Tales of Blood Bowl and Necromunda also surfaced in the first issue as small one off strips that give the reader a glimpse at what other products the company produce. These where by the whole well written, but not that memorable.

It wasn't till Issue two that we got to grips with one of the best strips that has been in the comic to date Titan. A young man is thrown in at the deep end when the Princeps controlling the huge Warlord class Titan dies during an attack and he must take over control of the huge towering machine. Once hooked into the machine our hero is man no more and is more of a hulking god like creature. The artwork is by Ant and Andy who I know very little about, except to tell you that it is kick ass. Crisp and clear as with Bloodquest and an excellent plot that has been getting better and better as the comic finds its feet.

Still more tales of fantasy and adventure came in issues 3 and 4, but it was the striking cover of issue 4 that seemed to grab peoples attention. Veteran comic artist, designer and all round good guy Kev Walker was once again recruited by Workshop to work for them on this project having done illustrations in many games and issues of White Dwarf years earlier. Walker is best known for his clear almost Raphael like approach to his work and he worked as the chief technical consultant on the Judge Dredd movie as well as many issues of the comic book and its sister comic 2000ad. Daemonifuge gives us a relative new look on the 40K universe with the addition of the comics first Female character Ephrael Stern, Sister of Battle. Stern looks as if she will shape up to be one of Games Workshops best ever characters and I for one cant wait for the next issue.

So do the comics work? Well yes and know. As a way to reach a new market that may not already know of Games Workshop and as a way to promote the games yes, also as an interesting sideline to White Dwarf yes. However some may be put off by the simplistic stories that are in the first 4 issues, or many comics fans may find them a little too gung ho or self proclaiming. The quality paper that they are printed on is first rate and is the kind that wont yellow too much with age and the comics themselves are in the same size format as normal comic books, breaking away from the over sized comics that always seem to come out of the UK.

I have heard via friends that write for the comic and also those that work inside GW that sales are doing well and that the run should be a long and prosperous one. Talk of putting out miniatures based around characters from the comic are coming thick and fast now and rules for them in the relative games should appear in White Dwarf over the coming months. This is a great way to increase sales of flagging ranges such as the Sisters of Battle or push the already popular ones once again.

I have been reading comic books for well over thirty years now and can highly recommend Warhammer Monthly, both as a stand alone comic book and as an addition to the worlds of Warhammer.

Overall 9 out of 10.

 Available from comic stores everywhere or direct from Games Workshop.

Marc