Is this new property worth following or should it be skipped altogether?  Read on to find out.

The official description from Aspen:

Discover a whole new world of adventure! Trekking through a violent and dangerous frontier of savage barbarians, devious thieves, and wild creatures, a warrior-princess named Ara searches for her mother, who was stolen away from her kingdom by a mysterious sorcerer with the help of his powerful D’jinn.  What great and terrible secrets await her in the distant horizon? Prepare to experience an epic tale of fantasy and wonder without boundaries. This is Ara’s quest. This is Ara’s destiny. This is Ara’s – JIRNI.

The creative team works together to deliver a more than competent beginning to what could be an epic in its own right.  From start to finish I was easily enthralled by this fantastical world that featured both images of love and hate at the very core of its shared experience.

J.T. Krul delivers a beefy first issue that quickly establishes the key components of this Red Sonja style adventure.  We have our heroine, Ara, now forced to deal with the burden of both unanswered questions and a band new sidekick along with her abilities.  In short, things move quickly despite an overabundance of back story and text.  Usually in my reviews that means the pace was bogged down but that wasn’t the case here as the author yielded a plethora of information that gave way to an overstuffed outing that had some rough patches.

The art by Paolo Pantalena is impressive from beginning to end.  The way the illustrator successfully captures the essence of the tale while imbuing it with a style all its own is simply uncanny.  From the action sequences with a mass of beasts to the slower more personal moments, via flashback, this talent was certainly the right person for this job.  I literally have zero complaints about the work on display.

Jirni #1 may be a text heavy affair, but there’s more than enough done right here to warrant a guaranteed purchase and a spot on any comic readers pull-list. Recommended.

4/5