The Anchor is pretty solid!

The Anchor #1 (Boom! – Hester / Churilla)

THE ANCHOR. Holy warrior, unholy war. Freak of nature, beast of burden, hulking outcast, medieval prize fighter, Viking raider… God’s own leg-breaker. One thousand years ago a hulking outcast sought refuge in the crumbling ruins of an ancient monastery and offered in return the one thing he had to give – his fists. Transformed into an immortal warrior monk standing at the gates of Hell itself to keep our world free from its invading armies, The Anchor is mysteriously tricked into centuries of slumber. But today, this holy warrior rises to battle all the unholy monsters unleashed during his slumber. Cataclysmic action, quirky humor, and profound pathos for fans of HELLBOY and THE GOON. A new BOOM! ongoing series, brought to you by Eisner Award-nominated writer/artist Phil Hester (GREEN ARROW, SWAMP THING, THE COFFIN, FIREBREATHER, THE DARKNESS) and fan-favorite artist Brian Churilla (REX MUNDI, THE ENGINEER, CREEPY).

The Anchor is a pretty straight forward story. There is a holy protector who guards the border of Hell. He exists in two forms, you could call one is his “spiritual” body I guess which exists in the non-physical realms keeping demons at bay and the other is his physical form which resides on Earth fighting baddies that got here through other methods. In this first issue there is not a whole lot of set-up, very little character development but plenty of fist-to-cuffs… as I sit and describe it, it doesn’t seem like a book that I would have enjoyed as much as I did. But Phil Hester, through the use of great description and imagery really caught me on this one. There is way more given on the Anchor’s character background in the description above then in the book itself. What that gives me hope in is that Hester has some pretty good things plotted out and that The Anchor will be more of an ongoing epic-ish story-telling rather than little vignettes. Brian Churilla’s art you either are down with it or you’re not. He falls into that “exact opposite of George Perez” category where it is more about the big ideas that are happening and not the details. I both accept and understand that sometimes less is a great deal more, especially when deal with a story that is about a concept and not necessarily caper details.

I look forward to the next ish!

Issue Grade: A

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