Warlord of Io has...wrapped?

I've written about Warlord of Io on this blog before; as a quick reminder, it was James Turner's next project after the conclusion of Rex Libris, but it didn't obtain enough orders in the direct market to continue printing after the first issue. To solve the problem, publisher Slave Labor Graphics began offering the issues as electronic downloads at their website.

Warlord of Io tells the story of Zing, youthful and newly-appointed emperor of the moon Io who is spectacularly unable to maintain his throne, facing a military junta. Zing is constantly out-of-touch with reality, trying to solve problems using video game logic.

So, last week the Warlord of Io trade paperback shipped. To my surprise, it contains material which had not been released before. At first I thought I had missed one of the issues on SLG, but I hadn't. In fact, half of the book is material which hasn't been seen before and it wraps up the entire storyline.

I had thought that Warlord of Io had a great set-up for stories which Turner could have taken years to tell, particularly since Zing is clearly in need of some personal growth before he's worthy of regaining his throne. The series also hosted numerous supporting characters, notably amongst the ranks of the antagonists. Dominaxa, for intsance, was clearly a character with more stories to tell.

So, it feels like Warlord of Io was short-changed by the market's indifferent reaction. Or perhaps Turner just feels that it's time to move on to the next project.

Regardless, now you can have the entirety of Warlord of Io in just one volume! Turner's art has come a long way, with increasing amounts of detail in his characters and backgrounds and his sense of humour is deft, not relying on insults or excessive pop culture references. Go pick it up!