“The Last Barbarians #1”
Written by Brian Haberlin and Hannah Wall
Art by Brian Haberlin
Sylv is a thief. Her sidekick is her brother, who’s over seven feet tall and not very bright. As a result, the thing they were stealing gets slightly broken very slightly, more like a crack, really. But when they take the piece back to their guild, the head thief is not pleased. When he tells Sylv that she and her brother are getting nothing for it, her anger gets the best of her, and she throws the little statue, now causing it to be “substantially broken.” This sets the two on a sad path, being turned down by all the other guilds, including the trades, mercenaries, and mages. The brothels are a little interested, but Sylv isn’t. In this world, people are discouraged from spreading their talents around. One should choose a single occupation and stick to it religiously otherwise, they’re considered a barbarian.
With no money from jobs, Sylv and her brother Shadow are about to lose everything, including the run-down shack they live in, when they don’t have the money to pay for it. As they go to sleep that night, Sylv has a dream, one that visits her often a dark figure, responsible for the deaths of her parents and for turning her brother into a simpleton.
Losing everything means having nothing to lose, as we’ve all been told. The next day, when Sylv meets a mysterious character offering her and her brother a job, she says yes. Issue #2 of “The Last Barbarian” will probably tell us if she’s just made a terrible mistake or if she’ll show everyone that there are things worse than being a barbarian like starving. This book took me back to 1982, playing D&D in my friends’ basements. Yes, we really did that stuff back then. We’re off on an adventure!
This article appears in March 1, 2023.