New White-wolf Teaser for Exalted Comic

It's shiny! (Sorry, I was just watching Firefly.

)

To start, the cover is reminiscent of the hardback covers - there's a background image, and a single stand-out character. And when I say stand out, Faka Kun most certainly does, as she's made a bit glossy on an otherwise standard comic cover. According to Zubkavich, one of two collaborative writers for the series as well as a frequent Exalted artist in his own right, the background image is First Age warfare. Very nice.

Open the cover of Exalted Zero (the official title of the story is Prelude: Relics) and you find your standark comics credit page. There's lots of familiar names here for anyone that pays attention to the credits in sourcebooks - like me - such as Noi Sackda, John Chambers and Brian Glass, to name only a few. There's also a small map of the southern region where the story takes place, almost like a snapshot from the much larger map of Creation on the inside cover of the corebook, with a red circle around the city of focus - Chiaroscuro. We also get a very very brief synopsis of the world we're about to enter in the Age of Sorrows, but that's okay. We're about to get more of that backstory in just a moment.

The story begins with our first (and to my knowledge only) establishing shots of Chiaroscuro, glass towers and all, while the "voiceover" narration boxes establish Exalted for the new reader. Anyone who's read the first few paragraphs of the Introduction chapter of the corebook will instantly recognize these words, and why not? It's the perfect way to begin this journey into the Second Age.

While the first page of the story is narrative rehash, the other 7 pages of this story, dialogue and all, are sprung straight from the minds of Zub and Gally, our two writers for the series. Without giving too much away, the story gives us a merchant who says just a little too much about the First Age to the wrong customer, and a Solar shows up to save the day and collect her reward.

There's also the hint of a hooded figure apparently watching this story unfold, one who anyone remotely familiar with the Exalted signature characters will recognize. The story is short, too short, but it leaves you desperately wanting the first issue of the series to read more, and to see if there's any more flashbacks with that Solar godchild...

I should say now that the art is nothing short of phenomenal. This is to be expected, of course. When you've got the same guys who do art for the sourcebooks working on the comic series, you know immediately that the quality should be just as good, if not better. They don't disappoint. Major kudos to Noi Sackda, Greg Boychuk and Roberto Campus for making these 8 comic pages absolutely beautiful. The shine of Essence use is beautiful, and Chiaroscuro looks like a place I'd want to set a game session or two. I look forward to their work on the rest of the series. (Especially since I've seen the first 3 pages of the first issue. One word: Wow!)

Now that the story is over, time to move on to the extras! (And I don't mean the kind that fall like dominoes in combat.) There's a page of White Wolf Commentary as John Chambers and Brian Glass give their two bits on Exalted and the comic series. It's followed up by New RPG Material! Spirit Weapons makes its debut in the course of the zero issue, and there are stats to bring this Charm from the comic to your gaming table, with a short fiction piece and Faka Kun sketch to accompany it.

And now, we break for an advertising intermission for Exalted: The Autochthonians and Pillar of the Sun.

Next up is a pin-up of the series' main characters: Wind, Demetheus, Faka Kun, Harmonious Jade, Kidale and Jasara. Do any of these names sound familiar? If you've read the Castebooks, they should, as many of them have been written about at least once in the sourcebooks. The exception is Kidale, a new character created especially for the series to bring new readers into Exalted through the eyes of a newly Exalted Solar.

The next four pages is a sketchbook of Noi Sackda's Exalted work, along with a few words from both Noi and Zub. The man does damn fine character art, no doubt about it. His warm-up sketches are awesome, and will no doubt find use as character reference for my games. The two pages after that are a Greg Boychuk sketchbook, along with words from Zub and Greg. Greg will be the guy you'll praise for the incredibly detailed backgrounds.

We've also got a page each for both the Art Team Q&A and Story Team Q&A where we get to know a little more about our Exalted team. I likes me these folks.

The preview finishes up with Cover Prelim Sketches (or The Evolution of a Cover) and Panel Progression (or The Birth of a Panel).

All in all, I feel like I got my money's worth and then some with Exalted Zero. Well done, UDON!