Rebel Moon: House of the Bloodaxe

Rebel Moon #0.5

by Mags Visaggio, Clark Bint (illustrator)

The graphic novel prequel to the Netflix original movie from Zack Snyder, acclaimed director of hit films like Zack Snyder’s Justice League and Army of the Dead.A sci-fi adventure that takes place on a planet on the brink of an all-out civil war. For fans of Snyder’s movies and epic space operas.As war is looming on the horizon of the planet Shasu, the leader of the Bloodaxe family is conflicted between living up to his father’s domineering legacy and maintaining the peace. It is up to him to settle the conflicts within himself, and his family, before the entire planet erupts in war.Created by acclaimed director Zack Snyder and written by award-winner Mags Visaggio, Rebel Moon offers a thrilling story of rebels and righteousness centered on a tumultuous distant planet that acts a direct prequel to the Netflix original movie.Collects Rebel House of the Bloodaxe #1-4

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction

112 pages, Paperback

Published August 20, 2024

Reviews

[Adam]

A prequel to the expansive world of Rebel Moon. Zack Snyders Rebel Moon films (directors cuts) creates an in-depth world full of different worlds and cultures to explore. From the jump, Snyders vision was to explode with a new world. Now from the movies, comes graphic novels (Nemesis is out now as well!)
As one who immediately got intrenched with the Rebel Moon films, I wanted to take a deeper dive in to the world. House of the Blood Axe is a dense action filled prequel to those films. The two main characters had semi small roles in the films, and this doesn’t show much more depth to the characters but instead the focus is on their father in an unorthodox story arc which I really dug. Without spoiling, it does unconventional things, which is why anything Snyder directs or has his hands in is so divisive. You love it or hate it. I loved it.
I’m looking forward to the Nemesis series by Gail Simone (Batgirl, Birds of Prey)

[Adam Ali]

After watching the director's cuts of both Rebel Moon films, I found myself wanting more out of this universe. To my surprise and delight, there exist this prequel comic about the two of the most intriguing characters from the films. So I decided to give it a read. Much like the movies themselves, I found myself wanting more of this story as well.

As stated above, this comic goes into the past of the Bloodaxe siblings and what they were doing before they became the revolutionaries we see in the films. We see see a glimpse into another corner of the Rebel Moon universe and see a world with own history and culture. We also see how the change of power within the motherland affects planets like this one. While the story itself is familiar, the way that it's told is captivating as we see how the characters change and deal with their struggles, both external and internal.

Also, I found the excerpts about the history, culture, and language of the planet this book takes place in to be very much appreciated. I hope this isn't the last we see of House Bloodaxe or the Rebel Moon Universe.

[Tee-Jay Ndjoze-Siririka]

The Fall of The House of the Bloodaxe



We learn the History of the Bloodaxe before we meet Darrian and Devra in Rebel Moon. Their family were already serving as the colony of The Motherworld. Darrian being the son of Lord Shasu grew tired of this especially since the upheaval of The Royal Family before Balisarius ascended to The Throne.

It shows the vulnerability of an Empire. How it can easily crumble.
A great build up before watching Rebel Moon, The PG Cuts and The R-Rated Cuts.

WATCH BOTH (4 FILMS only on NETFLIX)!!!!

[Brian]

The ending to this story makes no sense. There is no satisfying conclusion where the Blood Axes team up to fight the Motherworld. It just ends with them still being in separate factions and not coming together at all. Which was suppose to be the whole point of this prequel comic. It’s suppose to show how they lived and grew up on their homeworld and decided to form an army of rebels to fight motherworld and that doesn’t happen in the end. So it’s very disappointing.

[Aurelie]

This was interesting. I'm intending on going into Rebel Moon blind, well, mostly blind, minus all of this prequel, additional reading.

So, interesting and somewhat of a confusing read. Did I need to watch Rebel Moon prior to this, maybe? Maybe not? I'll probably find out later.

I found this comic to be a mix of Dune meets A Song of Ice and Fire with great art but also an oddly fast pace because I guess we need to wrap this up fairly quickly.

[Ryan Gosling]

Passable art. Poor story telling.

[Mohan Vemulapalli]

"Rebel Moon: House of the Bloodaxe " is a poignant space opera tale of family and dynastic strife that is reminiscent of Dune and Shakespeare's tragedies.

[Sam Nicholson]

6/10

[Kavatarapu Kun]

Vol 1 - 4/5
Vol 2 - 3/5
Vol 3 - 3/5
Vol 4 - 4/5

It's a great introduction to the House of Bloodaxe. We learn about the origins of the House, what made Devra and Darrian fight against the Motherworld and this contributes a lot to the world of Rebel Moon.

Contrary to my expectations, this story is more focused on Yisrael Bloodaxe (the father of Devra and Darrian) and much of the story about the planet, its people, history and Koseba Bloodaxe is told in the post scripts at the end of each volume rather than the comics. I enjoyed this ride into the universe of Rebel Moon much more than either of the two films (of which I saw the Director's Cut - and I've no one else to blame but myself) and I'm glad to see that Devra has a lot more character and expressions in the comics compared to emo face we got in the movies (I was very baffled by Darrion's comment about how Devra was the heart of the rebellion when it was pretty clear the actress who played her felt more like a child being forced to go to school on a Monday morning).

I would recommend this to people who want to know more of Rebel Moon, while this book can be read without watching the movies I won't be recommending it.