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Tales of the Dragon Guard collects three single-issue tales from French BD publisher Soleil in one glossy hardcover volume from American comics giant Marvel. As with other titles that Marvel has imported in this cooperative venture with Soleil, this one suffers from the reduction in page size, making the text a little hard to read, and the art less immersive.

Unusually, but happily, the three parts of this volume are not a serial with continuous narrative. They are really distinct "tales" show more about different "knights of the Order of Dragon Guard." The Order is comprised of celibate virgin women, who are immune to the poisonous and mutating influence of dragons, an influence called the "veil." The story seems to take place in some sort of alternative Europe, and the authors have been fairly imaginative in going beyond the basic concept of the Dragon Guard knights (which itself seems a bit of a quaint reversal, especially when they insist on fighting dragons en dishabille). The characters have surprising depth and there are suggestive political and economic considerations entertained in the stories. Still, it's a mostly conventional fantasy world, realized with a fair amount of narrative and visual detail.

The graphic aesthetic has as much steampunk as Tolkein to it. Each story has its own principal artist, but the three cohere visually. The continuity may be due in part to the work of a single colorist spanning the whole book. (I don't know whether the French originals were in color, but I suspect not.)

On the whole, I found this volume to be an adequate effort in its genre: not challenging, but mildly exciting. show less

Tales of the Dragon Guard comes to us from France by way of Marvel Comics. There are three stories collected in this title, detailing various historical moments in the history of the Dragon Guard. The Order of the Dragon Guard is made up of virgin girl warriors who aren't affected by "the Veil," which is an odd dragon byproduct that mutates men and older women into animal-like beings. There aren't as many bare breasts as one might expect from the "Mature Content" rating; there is a bit of show more violence (and a lot of blood) and one attempted rape, though.

The first story is Brisken, which has echoes of The Iliad or other long battle sequences. The Dragon Guard is sent to protect the village of Brisken, but it soon becomes apparent that this is all a setup to wrest power from the Order. The plot was fine, but it was a little strange as there actually isn't a dragon in the story.

Then there's The Palace Gardens, starting out like an Indiana Jones movie. The two main characters must confront demons from their past. Although this story has some very violent moments, there's a humorous surprise ending that fits, but takes some of the seriousness out of the plot.

I liked the third story, Beyond The Mountains, best, perhaps because it's based on a legal argument. A dragon has been killed near a nomadic tribe, and it is clear that the Veil has begun to transform some of the tribe physically. Generally when this happens, that community becomes violent and feral and must be killed by the Dragon Guard. But one warrior from the Guard sees the tribe as people, and thus killing them would not be extermination for the greater good, but outright genocide (at least as long as the tribe remains unaffected mentally).

Even though the stories aren't really connected by an overarching thread, the authors (a husband-wife team) have put a lot of thought into the background of the world. Sure, there are moments when the women warriors are clearly drawn as pinups, but there are some deep storylines that question friendship and authority and do it well. Strongly recommended, especially to those who already like fantasy. show less

The illustrations in this graphic novel are spot on. It’s a violent blood mess about vampires wreaking havoc in the Empire State Building. I do wish there was a bit more storytelling. The reader learns that these vampires are a result of a native american vampire deity, but they never get an in depth idea of where they come from. Just a glossed over point of view about being locked up on the “highest mountain”. Overall this was an enjoyable read if someone is into blood and gore. The show more reader can see the Walking Dead influences, and those fans will love this book. show less

The way they created the vampires was very unique. I loved the way they gave the vampires their own special language. I enjoyed the book so much. I got so attached to all of the characters immediately.