REVIEW: Taarna: The Last Taarakian Brings a Hero into a New Century

A sci fi warrior woman dressed in red and black holds a sword

Taarna is a universe unto herself. Born of the great warrior Taarnak and a dying world. This is a pretty auspicious origin story for the woman who made her debut in 1981 as part of the Canadian animated anthology known as Heavy Metal. Back then, she was a mute warrior summoned to save a race of people from savage mutated barbarians. Publisher Heavy Metal brings her back for a new century, offering us a warrior revered by some as a goddess as she defends the multiverse from chaos and the evils of Kako.

Taarna: The Last Taarakian

Al Barrionuevo (artist), Marshall Dillon (letterer), Joseph Illidge (editor), Jessica Kholline (colorist), Stephanie Phillips (writer), Christian Rosado (artist), Bryan Valenza (colorist), Christian Ward (cover artist), Patrick Zircher (artist)
Heavy Metal
January 18, 2021

In Taarna: The Last Taarakian, we meet the titular character when she dramatically swoops down from the heavens to save a dying planet. Though the people praise her for her efforts, they quickly prove to be fickle worshippers, disappointed that she’d ditch them to starve in the aftermath of the collapsing sun she’d just righted.

Through these introductory moments, we know Taarna as cold and aloof. When later she inadvertently gets herself a sidekick, we get to see a slightly softer side. But not before she kicks lots of monstrous ass.

Three artists share credit across the six chapters of the collected series. Each one uses a unique style to shape Taarna’s evolution through this adventure. The first two chapters keep Taarna at a distance, focusing on her celestial efforts, with vibrant galactic splashes of color and lightning tearing through the pages. From chapter three onward, Taarna is pitted against giant monsters, with the art getting gritty, vicious, and bloody. Finally, as the story approaches its conclusion and Taarna begins to warm slightly to the plight of her new companion, Shaan, the imagery softens somewhat, and the battles, this time against people, become more personal.

Though her original outing was brief, Taarna’s s memorable for gracing the poster of the Heavy Metal film anthology astride her winged mount, Avis, wielding her golden sword high above her head, wearing an elaborate black bikini and red boots. The illustration on the cover did not translate into the animation, which simplified it for ease. That simplification makes its way into the first two chapters of the comic and the initial lackluster cover for the first issue, which we discussed in our Cover Girl series.

A sci fi warrior woman dressed in red and black holds a sword

Perhaps this was intended as a homage to her animated form. But, given that this is a comic, there is room for the artists to give her back the style and definition of her original outfit. Thankfully, this only lasts for the first two chapters as her attire also makes transitions throughout the series along with the artists taking over the respective chapters. By chapter three, her outfit gains some texture and even a small loincloth and a strap to hold up that underboob shadow void bikini thing. By the finale, she dons shiny new armor. While I did not love this particular design, I will give it points for creativity.

In Taarna’s original outing, she is a mute warrior woman, ready to sacrifice herself to save those in need, guided by her golden sword. Here, she has the power of speech, though she uses it sparingly, letting her sword more often do the talking. The introduction of Shaan gives her more to say and do, particularly in terms of character development, but there is not much depth to the story or characters. Though well-paced, the series moves predictably. If it’s intended to be a homage to the source material and the classic ’80s warrior/barbarian films like Conan and Red Sonja, then it’s just barely a nod. There was an opportunity to scratch more deeply beneath the genre’s surface, but it feels like letting Taarna speak, getting her dressed, and giving her a sidekick to sort of care about were the main goals. In which case, success, I guess.

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Wendy Browne

Wendy Browne

Publisher, mother, geek, executive assistant sith, gamer, writer, lazy succubus, blogger, bibliophile. Not necessarily in that order.

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