Comic Review: RWBY “Chapter #1 Prelude: The ELEGY”

One hell of a way to bring people up to speed.

As the issue’s title implies, this comic is more of an introduction told from Ruby Rose’s perspective which brings people up to speed about who Team RWBY is, along with the fantasy world that they live in. Much of her introductions to her teammates, including her sister Yang are quite an entertaining read that managed to get a chuckle out of me, but the silent pages where the action happens which is equally as awesome to look at since they have very little dialogue but you can easily figure out what’s going on.

For people new to the world of RWBY, we are at least given the basics about what “Protection Auras”, and “Semblances” are, along with what semblance powers each teammate has that in different ways all seem to compliment each individual personality-wise. Of course, the way it ends mainly leads up to the somewhat bleak aftermath of Vol.3 with the beacon academy being destroyed and all her teammates either separated or gravely injured which are separate storylines that get further touched upon in later seasons of the series.

Our Take

While RWBY has always been an anime-Inspired series that pays homage to the anime genre as a whole in subtle ways, at its core it’s still an American property created by the late Monty Oum. But with the joint-efforts of writer Marguerite Bennette, Artist Mirka Andolfo and Colorist Arif Prianto,  whom all had the Herculean task to cram a manageable portion of the show’s lore within 24 pages. The art-direction itself isn’t easy to pull off but excels with eye-popping colors, imaginative art that remains consistently colorful and even new character designs I wouldn’t have imagined such as what a tomboyish toddler version of Yang would’ve looked like. The writing feels consistent with the characters, in particular, Ruby herself.

Overall, I mostly recommend this to fans new to RWBY, but remain unsure if the next issue will be a retelling of the events of Vol.4 and onward or a completely original story within this show’s universe since this first chapter/issue mainly served as a jumping-on point for people new to the franchise, which remains to be seen with this current run from DC Comics.