Warhammer 40K is something I have never really paid much attention to, but I find to be utterly fascinating at a glance. It's that cool blend of fantasy and deep science-fiction that is just cool. In theory it's a series of stories that take place in the 41st millennium, deep into the future. And all that is known is war. Various factions with their own beliefs and agendas in a constant state of death and destruction. The sheer scale of this is felt with all kinds of chaotic designs that results in a universe that seems completely pointless. Nothing seeming to have a purpose beyond obtaining power by some form of violent means. Various planets are entirely engulfed in war, and various species have been pulled into it in some way or another. The Warhammer franchise is something that goes beyond just literature though, and while I'm not all that interested in the books, there's something else I'm not all that interested in: the tabletop game that the whole thing is based on. People collect and paint the models of various characters as a hobby, buying the models used for the game without intent to ever actually play them. Some read the books and get heavy into the complex lore of it all. Others, perhaps more like me, are more interested in the visual media. The games and the comics that exist. Recently a new Space Marine game came out, and I annoyingly can't play it at the moment. And that led to me getting curious: are there comics?
I searched around a bit and looked online through various forums, people recommended some comics over others, though it didn't seem like there were a whole lot of them. Many of them being something that was released more in the 90s and early 2000s. But with the popularity of the franchise and the rise in the digital media side of the Warhammer brand, it does appear that there have been more recent releases with little attempts to give people a little extra formats behind the lore. There's one group of characters that I do know about and much of this comes from seeing really cool art from some of the original artists behind the Games Workshop brand. And these characters are known as the Adepta Sororitas. This is an all-female group of warriors, to which a specific division of the Adepta Sororitas carries most of the attention: the Sisters of Battle. I mean, that's a pretty cool name, isn't it? And their designs show a hard edge to them that certainly shows them as battle hardened. I thought it'd be cool to first check out the comic that focuses on this group, to get a little glimpse into the lore while also enjoying yet another comic series. Yes, I am addicted. No, I will not stop reading them. Though I admit I was sceptical of the quality of this comic before going into it. I really didn't expect it to be something that would have a good story, good writing, and especially have a good art style. I assumed it would've been a smaller story with a cheaper look to it. This was published by Marvel, which I guess should've been a bit more telling.
The comic's story is told over five total volumes, which was surprising given that's quite a decent run for a more niche story like this. I was really surprised from the very start at how good the comic was, from the art style which really showcased the cool environments of the Warhammer 40K universe as well as the character designs. One thing that really stood out was the more gory nature to it. Certainly incredibly violent. And this was met with a really good use of creative perspectives that gave a lot of the action sequences a lot more weight to them. I found it quite immersive as a result of the art style and creative perspectives, which also really amplified the cooler nature of the Adepta Sororitas. Mixed with this, the comic actually went out of its way in parts to give us a rundown on what the Adepta Sororitas actually are, and how they're broken down into numerous categories. I liked that it didn't do this with a heavy dialogue focus, instead it was done between panels. Little breaks in the art and the comic, with just a few tables and bit of text which explains some things to us, assuming we are totally new. In my case, I was rather new. Only knowing of the Sisters of Battle characters but not the other sides to it all, which gave more depth to them as it was made clear that they had various roles to play, from being medics to more diplomatic measures.
The story in the comic focuses on the Sisters of Battle arriving on a planet with the intent of recovering a lost item, while also focusing heavily on a political aspect of the city's recent developments. The Sisters of Battle being people happy to kill and hunt are tasked with the purpose of bringing down a revolutionary group that have been starting a bit of an uprise. These are known as heretics for their rejection of the Emperor. Heretics are seen as people that aren't really people, subhuman even. They aren't given any rights to live or a trial. It's a case of instant and brutal death upon the discovery of heresy. For the Sisters of Battle, their task isn't just bringing the uprising to an end, but ensuring that the heretics of all sorts are given death. This leads to a lot of interesting moments in the comic where the Sisters of Battle happily pull the trigger, leading to gory moments in which heads explode and it's clear that the fight is a significantly uneven one. Groups of hardly-armed individuals against the Sisters of Battle with their huge weapons and armour. But the story isn't without its moments in which the sisters take a bit of a beating too. I quite liked these moments because the story handled them in a way in which death meant very little to them. There's no idea of regret. Not even the feeling of great sacrifice for the Emperor. It's just death.
I quite like that the comic's events don't have us necessarily on the side of the Sisters of Battle, there's plenty of conflicting events that have us somewhat starting to question their actions, reviving that religious fanaticism and the idea of heresy. The citizens of the planet claiming humans are just meat for the Gods. And asking them why they fight for an Emperor that they have not seen. Very valid points that show the brutal nature of these warriors and their refusal to back down. It adds that layer to the violence that somewhat churns the stomach, seeing how these two sides don't respect each other or see them as reasonable foes. That brutal nature of war that comes with removing the idea of humanity from the opposition. The Sisters of Battle don't even bother to give answers to such questions, for them it's more insulting to listen to the words of a heretic. It definitely exacerbates things as they continue to press forward into the planet towards its core. Their foes starting to differ up from regular warriors, to citizens, and then the chaos begins. I assumed I would start to grow tired of the comic after the third volume given how it managed to essentially be about violence for the most part, but that momentum kept things going. Panel after panel. Where the narrative would sometimes switch between perspectives, even to the leader of the uprising.
The whole thing was a pleasant surprise. And it was a great experience to see a comic with some really intense action to it. Especially with the fact that the art itself was good. I definitely came out of this wanting more, and with a newfound interest in exploring more of the Warhammer 40k lore. Something tells me this is just the start of another new addiction.