Pathfinder Spiral of Bones #1 Review

Written by: Crystal Frasier

Art by: Tom Garcia

Colors by: Morgan Hickman

Letters by: Thomas Napolitano

Published by: Dynamite

This issue begins a new adventure for the Pathfinder heroes that were first introduced a few years ago by Jim Zub. In this new incarnation (or continuation, I’m not entirely sure), it is now Crystal Fraser’s turn to take on the likes of Valeros, Seoni, Merisiel and company on their new adventure.

And what is their new adventure you ask? Well, I’m not one hundred percent sure yet, but it does involve the city of Kaer Maga - the City of Strangers, the disappearance of a few friends who were on a simple fact-finding mission, and the introduction of new-old friends to the group. Exactly what a good tabletop RPG session should look like!

The crux of the story revolves around the group’s arrival in Kaer Maga and the loss of two of their party (never split the group!). Once this is discovered, Valeros, Seoni, Merisiel and their new half-orc companion Imrijka (who Valeros previously knew). The adventure itself to the catacombs of the undercity where they encounter a slew of monsters that take them to their almost-limit. It’s all a whole lot of fun.

On art, Tom Garcia and team give us exactly what you look for in tabletop player characters: they are all over the top, with incredibly stylized gear and eye-catching differences. His art itself is nice and clean which allows for nice staging of panels - especially in the fight scenes.

The only  real complaint I had about the issue is that it isn’t really new-reader friendly. I say this mostly in the case of the characters themselves. They each clearly have an established history, but that isn’t conveyed in the comic itself. You’d be forgiven if you weren’t sure which one was Seoni and which one was Merisiel when they are first introduced. A very easy solution to this would have been to add a recap page at the beginning listing who was who.