REVIEW: The Final Wielder

The Final Wielder from Artistic Realm Creations is the story of an archaeologist named Charles who finds an enchanted amulet, or perhaps the story of an amulet that finds Charles, and propels him toward becoming a cosmic protector. The first issue follows Charles’ discovery of the Amulet, his mastery of its powers, and a brief history of the amulet’s cosmic origins. Issue one is heavy on dialogue and history, there’s not a lot of action happening., which is not bad, but action junkies be forewarned. 

The story of The Final Wielder has potential, and it will be interesting to see where the story goes in issue 2. It could be the solid beginning of a much larger story, but the dialogue and editing issues bog it down. 

The story’s biggest flaw is its editing. There are numerous grammatical errors and misused words. There is no editor listed in the book credits, so my assumption is, there wasn’t one. The story could have really benefited from an editor. The errors could have been corrected and an editor could have tightened up the dialogue.

Speaking of dialogue, the amulet and Charles’ have a continuing dialogue throughout the issue. At times the dialogue is charming and witty, but at others it’s clunky. I see where the writer, referred to in the credits only as “The Creator Mal”, but, again, a good editor here could have tightened up the dialogue and made it shine. 

The art is solid and really helps propel the story. There’s quite a bit of magical location jumping, which could make the story confusing, but the art helps keep things grounded and centered. Each character’s design is unique and well thought out, and the artist does a great job of bringing the characters to life.

The story is mostly well planned and thought out. The only major problem with the story is it abruptly ends. It is meant to end on a cliffhanger, but there is no “to be continued” or similar hint that this is the end. What makes it more confusing is the issue ends with a preview of Elements of Agony, another title from Artistic Realm Creations. At first, when I flipped the page I thought Mal was introducing new characters. I didn’t realize The Final Wielder had ended and a preview story had begun. I was quite confused until I realized the story had ended and I was in a preview story. There’s also a brief moment at the open of the book, that I believe is a moment of foreshadowing, but is left completely without context.

The Final Wielder has the potential to be a great story, but some missteps in this first issue make it stumble. I’d love to know more about Charles, his family, and his job on the dig site. A more concise dialogue and a good editor will really make future issues better. I’m looking forward to reading future issues and hope to see Mal’s writing evolve with each issue because we need more black characters in the cosmic quest category, and Charles could really help fill that void!

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