Sigam: Maman Knight [Volume 1 #8]

Posted: Wednesday, March 14, 2007
By: Steve Saville

Cover of Sigam: Maman Knight [Volume 1 #8] Creator(s): Jose M Cardona
Publishers: Self Published
From: USA
Price: $1.00

‘Sigam’ is a Science Fiction comic. It is proud about that and the Science Fiction influences drip heavily from every page. So if sci fi is not your ‘thing’ then steer well clear because you will find little in this latest instalment to entice you. On the other hand if you can quote large tracts of ‘The Man Who Fell to Earth’ [for example] then I have no doubt that you will lap up Cardona’s complex interplanetary tale.

As for myself, I remain unconvinced. There is nothing new enough here to really excite me, the art work is good but not stunning, the dialogue similar. The cover is just plain confusing. There is nothing to really make me sit up and take notice, and at only 11 pages, I question whether the title has a chance to really draw me in and make me believe.

As it is quite short, I couldn’t help but feel it would be better suited to an A5 format rather than the A4 one utilised here. The fact that Cardona does not make extensive use of background means that the page size could quite easily be reduced without compromising the overall effect.

The story itself revolves around Sigam a Maman knight who has been sent by his elders to travel through the galaxy to find other beings who are willing to help the Mamans repel the evil and savage Wohdaris, who are on the verge of taking over the galaxy.

Cardona does have epic aspirations for his title and it seems that he has planned a long, complex and detailed narrative. Herein lies one of the problems, in the space of 11 pages we get a least 4 changes of setting and characters and so nothing gets a chance to settle before we move on, it all seems a little rushed. I feel that the story line would have more of a chance if the editions were less frequent but thicker, I wanted some more ‘meat’ As it is a complex story I do feel that the approach to each edition has to be that of a middle distance runner rather than a sprinter.

As it does follow the traditional hero on a quest formula there are many elements about it that seem familiar but that is not a criticism as after all the heroic journey is the basis of a sizeable chunk of out literary canon.

In a Word: Flustered.



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