Ruby and the Warriors of Dion #1 Review

Created by Silvio Spotti
Written by Guido Martinez
Art by Silvio Spotti
Color by Vittorio Astone
Edited by Marcel Dupree and Silvio Spotti

For my money I love two genres above all others; fantasy and Sci-Fi. Both are unique genres in the fact that they have endless landscapes of creativity and world building. With so many different subgenres fantasy worlds can have so many different slants and twists that help to make the book unique it’s almost a call to arms for writers to do things different while at the same time providing a solid foundation for writers that would rather stick to the structured worlds previously developed. Either way writers have a way to stay grounded or take flight in their own story. I feel like Martinez and Spotti attempted to keep some small homages to the old school fantasy with quaint little villages and small farm rural living characters while still having massively large castle dwelling armies and villains. The feel of the world is that of other genres but the character design and magic system seem slightly different and unique enough to be surprising and fun to watch unfold. There are mythical evil creatures that are sinister and true protagonists that capture the heart of the reader and it’s all wrapped up in a quick but quality first look at the world.

One of the things I’ve grown accustomed to with Evoluzione Publishing is a first class level of art that is usually more cartoon style than anything else but always well drawn and colored. Ruby follows the tradition of well drawn but the line work and style are more on the realistic side compared to other Evoluzione titles. I’m not mad at the fact Rudy has a more realistic style, I welcome it. Both the story and the art are unique to Evoluzione and bring a certain amount of gravitas to the publisher. One of the things that I like about Evoluzione is the way they collaborate and Ruby is just another prime example of their dedication and want to make a great product. I’m not sure but in my mind this is how it went. Spotti already had these excellent character designs and a general idea of where he wanted his world’s lore to go so he called up Evoluzione and they brainstormed how to bring it to life. Spotti let Martinez do most of the writing with Dupree editing and in turn that freed up Spotti to take all the time he needed to get the art perfect. I imagine this is how it happened because Spotti’s art is all very precise and done very well, nothing out of order, nothing there that wasn’t absolutely necessary and beautiful looking. Spotti’s talent for art and colors is superb and apparently he is also lightning fast because their about ready to launch a new Kickstarter for issue two this month.

If you want to keep up with Evoluzione and want the latest on Ruby issue two’s Kickstarter you can follow them on Facebook.