Anne McCaffrey's Dragon Flight Three issue miniseries (coverprice
$4.95)
Publisher: Eclipse
Writer: Brynne Steohans
Artist: Lela Dowling and Cynthia Martin
Reviewer: Frank Rikkers
After First Comics went bankrupt I paid more attention to smaller publishers. A comic which immediatly grabbed my attention (because of the great cover) was the above mentioned miniseries.
The story of Dragonflight is set on a faraway planet, which was once colonized by Earth. The people on this planet haven't got an easy life. Once in a while, some kind of seed fall down on the planet and eat everything organic. The people adapted to this by making their homes in caves and have called in the help of the dragons of the planet. Each dragon is connected to one person.
But there is a small problem. The seeds haven't fallen for over 400 years and the inhabitants of the planet think of the "eating seed" as a myth. The dragons and their human partners, who used to protect The People, are now called parasites who don't want to work for a living. Less and less people want to sent food and other resources to the castles were the Dragonriders live. This is the beginning of a saga. Will the Dragonriders win the battles they have to fight on different fronts? To know the answer, you'll have to buy this limited series. To convince you to buy these comics, let me tell you this. After Marvels, every company had to publish painted comics, not all of them very good (some even terrible). Dragonflight is also painted, but is, in my opinion, at least as beautifully illustrated as Marvels. It's done in water-colours, which renders a stunning effect and looks very realistic. The emphasis lies on the humans and the dragons. The backgrounds are rather simple, but I only noticed that when I read Dragonflight for the third time!
The end of this series made me long for more. That's why I couldn't be happier when I heard from someone that this comic was an adaptation of a science fiction novel. Now, 5 years later, I'm the proud owner, not only of one of the best science fiction comics ever, but also of all the books of Anne McCaffrey. You'll probably have to search a bit for the comics but when you find them, you should treasure them like the gems they are. Enjoy!!