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Legend of the Mantamaji | review (Book 1)

Legend of the Mantamaji

Creator and Author: Eric Dean Seaton

Artist: Brandon Palas

Colorist: Andrew Dalhouse

Letterer: Deron Bennett

What makes a good superhero? A good weapon or effective superhuman powers, a protective costume with the popular option of flamboyancy (unless they can do without; Props to them), a catchy name, and good ole motivation. These elements help compose our most well-known superheroes. If you’re like me and got into the comic book game recently, then you too might think that getting into superhero comics is a bit challenging. They span all the way back to the Golden Age starting at the 30’s, to the multiple Marvel and DC reboots. Nevertheless, they’re still awesome. What if you’re looking for something different? You want the same butt kicking action, but with a new approach. I think I’ve got something that might spark your interest.

Picture it (channeling my inner Sophia Petrillo): How do you live the rest of your life when you find out the stories your mother had been reading to you as a child, about magic, warriors, and an ancient race from Africa that lived to save our world, is actually your family history? Think about it: A suspicious, hooded stranger tells you that you’re Earth’s last hope to defeating the reemergence of evil, and your mother is looking at you like, “Yep. That’s a thing.” Oh yeah, and you’re not even human! Our protagonist, Elijah Alexander, had to put his life on hold after he realized these insane, hypothetical ideas were his reality. Thousands of years ago, his father, Candor, along with 2 others, Noah and Sirach, were known as the best of these warriors called the Mantamaji. One of them decided he was tired of protecting humans and would rather rule them. As you can imagine, there’s no way this could have gone well. In short, Sirach started a war, he and Candor died in battle, Sirach has been reborn to finish what he started, and Noah lives to warn Elijah and hopefully awaken his powers. In the series of Legend of the Mantamaji, we follow Elijah’s personal quest to either accepting his fate and learns to unleash his power to stop one of his own kind from taking over the world, or ignore it and go back to continue living his dream of being a big shot New Yorker Assistant Defense Attorney.

I haven’t been in into superhero comics for very long, but I definitely know a decent bit about the most well-known superheroes. This graphic novel gives us a story of the same genre in a way that we have never seen before.

My favorite part about the Mantamaji is that their armor and weapons are controlled by mental focus. There have been comic characters that use their mental abilities to fight around for a while: Psylocke with her telekinesis and iconic katanas and Green Lantern using imagination to use the ring, just to name a few. The Mantamaji do have weapons, and perform physical combat. The cool thing is their armor and weapons are all based on focus and will power. They must concentrate to spread the armor on their bodies and keep focus to make sure it stays on and strong. A Mantamaji can be fully covered, but if focus is lost, the armor can be easily penetrated. So when I say in order be a Mantamaji, you must think like a Mantamaji, there is no exaggeration. He could even walk around with everything on but his helmet as long as he knew how to focus correctly. Having to keep the mind on the armor, weapon, opponent, and surrounding all while trying not to die sounds incredibly difficult and stressful to say the least. That is why this is about the coolest magical ability I have ever seen. What better way to teach someone to keep focus during a battle than to let them know if he loses track of concentration, then he basically gives the opponent a 1 up? That would scare the crap out of me, and help me take this seriously.

You might have noticed the ankh symbol across Elijah’s chest and torso when he is suited up, and also in the ‘T’ of the Mantamaji title. The Mantamaji carry around ankhs as weapons. With their imagination, they can change the ankhs into any weapon they want. Most common weapons seen in the comic are staffs, shields, and flaming swords. There are more cool ones, but I’ll let you see for yourself how awesome they get :) The ankh works as a good symbol for their culture. History tells us that ankhs originated in Egypt, and Elijah’s ancestors are from a southern part of Egypt called Nubia. Another piece of general knowledge is that it’s a symbol of life. Mantamaji are able to live centuries and millennia even. They were born to protect the Earth and the lives that inhabit it. Some famous ancient Egyptian art depicts the gods holding the ankhs. The Mantamaji are basically god-like from the perspective of humans. Also, super cool, the ankhs are incorporated into Sirach’s follower’s masks. They are the New World Knights, and their masks are pretty awesome.

Speaking of Sirach, the way he is blending into society after resurrection is brilliant. Well, he isn’t so much blending as much as a popular cult leader on every TV promising people a new life and a new world would blend in. But he isn’t blowing his cover as an evil sorcerer! The New World Knights is an army of followers to make sure his plan pulls through. They have been quite leery, and Sydney, Elijah’s kick-ass detective girlfriend, is hot on their trail. She has no idea what she’s getting into.

I have given you the gist. A glimpse into Legend of the Mantamaji, created by award winning TV director Eric Dean Seaton. Mr. Seaton has directed many TV shows that I both grew up with and watched into adulthood. His work includes numerous episodes of That’s So Raven, Good Luck Charlie, Austin and Alley, and a plethora of Sonny with a Chance (EEK!). This man has contributed to my childhood and helped some of my favorite celebrities become stars. The least I can do is pitch his comic. All that aside, it’s still a great read. There are 3 volumes and I bought all mine at once, I suggest you do the same. There are twists and surprises, new villains, and more action, so you’re gonna need em :) Absorb the art while you are at it. Palas and Dalhouse do a wonderful job illustrating us an action story. ALSO, there is a live-action short of the comic! You must check it out. It was pretty cool seeing the action in moving picture after I read the graphic novels.

http://legendofthemantamaji.com/portfolio/liveactionshort/

Watch. Fullscreen. Enjoy.

Legend of the Mantamaji is an action comic I have been looking for since my first dive into comics. Seaton gives us a story of a new hero that stands out among the large quantity of comic book heroes, which is hard to do. This review is mainly for book one, but it does prepare you for all the books, so there is a chance I will continue reviews with books 2 and 3, but that will be on down the line after I give you time to read at least book 1 :) Visit the site and check out the links below where you can buy the books and read more about Eric Dean Seaton and the rest of the Mantamaji crew. If you read it, or have already read it, comment below and let’s discuss more of this fantastic read.

http://ericdeanseaton.com/

https://twitter.com/EricDeanSeaton

https://twitter.com/BrandonPalas

http://legendofthemantamaji.com/

https://twitter.com/Mantamaji

https://twitter.com/KristopherGrey (my Twitter)

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