What happens when you have influences like Mass Effect, Destiny, Halo, Arthurian Legend, and a few others and put those into a story? Well, ya get Pilgrim’s Dirge from Toben Racicot for one thing! There’s also a slight dash of Post Apocalyptic fun too considering in this tale, Earth is a frozen wasteland and one Orin Daniels is currently stuck on the ol’ Iceball after something that went South at some point with a group called Celestial Orbit Reparation Effort (or CORE for short) long before the events we get to reading about in this first issue. And we see that Orin’s not all that enthused about being on Earth, which, ya know, is understandable considering he’s miles away from his loved ones. But ya’d never know he’s feeling that way given how he tends to interact with some rather hairy locals Earth is home to these days in Pilgrim’s Dirge! A method that honestly reminded me a little of a certain Wall Crawler so that was kinda nice!
Those hairy locals also remind me a little of Marvel’s take on the Wendigo legend and as you may remember, that’s something that got discussed in my interview with Toben on all things Pilgrim’s Dirge last month.
So stay tuned for that folks! Bringing Matteo Leoni and Martina Bonanni on board as Artist and Colorist respectively was some damn good decision making in my view and hopefully they’ll be able to stick around for the entire 5 issue series that Toben has in mind. I also like that Magic seems to be a thing here in this universe of Toben’s, though its only so far been talked about and not shown. But the little we do know about it comes from Orin’s views that its best not to mix with Science. Though how its going to play in the story, especially where Orin’s journey to try and get back to his family is concerned, remains to be seen. But that, and other elements are things I’m definitely looking forward to reading about.
Especially where the ending pages are concerned as it seems things are heating up as the past catches up a bit with Orin! I highly recommend checking this out and even supporting the Kickstarter as well!
Pilgrim’s Dirge #1
Self-Published
Writer and Letterer: Toben Racicot
Artist: Matteo Leoni
Colorist: Martina Bonanni
Reviewer: Rob Wrecks
Summary: C.O.R.E. (Celestial Orbit Reparation Effort) returned to Earth after the cataclysm to eradicate an alien race. Orin Daniels was among those soldiers. He now fights for survival, trying desperately to return to his family, but C.O.R.E. is on his trail.
Pilgrim’s Dirge is a science fiction adventure in a post-apocalyptic solar system. The cataclysm awoke an ancient evil whose return threatens not just Earth, but all existence. Orin must band together with unprecedented alien races to eliminate this threat and save the galaxy. If Orin thought Earth was a chilling place, he has no idea what awaits in the dark of space.
