CROSSGEN Question

[StarLord88]

Can anyone tell me anything about the character Samandahl Rey? My friend keeps bragging and im a big fan of comics that are not marvel or DC, but i have never heard of this guy

[Winslow]

He's the lead character in Sigil, a Sci-Fi war story.

Here's an excerpt from wiki:

Sam is blunt, outspoken, no-nonsense character. While he is quick to anger he does not lose his self control and can rein in his temper very rapidly when the situation calls for it. He usually wears a vest with no shirt so his sigil is quite obvious on his chest. One of the writers who worked on his story likened Sam to Bruce Willis in the Die Hard movies.

The wiki article is pretty accurate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samandahl_Rey

I didn't find him that compelling. Sigil suffered from writer changes . . I think 3 or 4 in the 44 issues printed. It wasn't one of Crossgen's better titles.

[Stressfactor]

I disagree. Sam was a very interesting character if you followed him from the beginning. His Sigil allowed him to to completely reshape matter and also allowed him to tear matter apart on the molecular level -- resulting in explosive results.

When you first meet Sam he's very much a Han Solo character or perhaps, more like a Mal Reynolds from "Firefly". He's a freighter captain who had once been a loyal soldier until he found out a few things about the way -- as well as being used at one point as a stalking horse without his knowledge.

He had developed a real dislike for authority in most of its forms but, in the end, he found himself becoming a leader. While yes, initially, he acted without thinking and was hot headed he learned to control it because he HAD to learn to control it. As he grew and changed he became more mature, thoughtful, and a better tactitian.

It's a shame his story arc was never really played out. He had a great supporting cast as well with some interesting twists.

[StarLord88]

Thanks that really helps alot. yeah im use to reading more along the line sof Top Cow and stuff. Like Tom Judge and Ripclaw are two of my favorites. But this guy has been hyped to me so much i had to ask some questions. So the people with that symbol all had different powers?

Sucks crossgen went bankrupt

[Winslow]

Thanks that really helps alot. yeah im use to reading more along the line sof Top Cow and stuff. Like Tom Judge and Ripclaw are two of my favorites. But this guy has been hyped to me so much i had to ask some questions. So the people with that symbol all had different powers?

Sucks crossgen went bankrupt

Yes, the people with the sigil markhad superpowers.

A red hued power was destructive entropy and yellow was constructive enthalpy (generally). Together they represented balance - kind of like tao. Sam was one of the few sigil-bearers that could use both powers (I think, I haven't read it in about 3 or 4 years)

Sam's superpower was described fairly well by Stressfactor, and he was the most powerful sigil-bearer.

[StarLord88]

So what were the sigil people? like what could they do and what were there names? sorry if im harping questions but im debating buying some books today

[Winslow]

So what were the sigil people? like what could they do and what were there names? sorry if im harping questions but im debating buying some books today

Nah, it's OK. But my memory is rusty, so I'll refer you to wikipedia again.

If you scroll down, you can click on the different titles and they have a synopsis. There may be spoilers though:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossgen

[Stressfactor]

It's a little hard to explain about the Sigil-verse because, as someone mentioned above, there were a number of different writers who came and went over the years.

I've spoken to some former Crossgen writers about the company and basically, they did have something of a "bible" early on for the direction but the bible was only about half-way completed and the rest was skeletal.

In the beginning, the whole thing was going to be part of a five year cycle but then it got truncated when the company began to collapse and they tried to save themselves.

The one title that was supposed to explain the Sigilbearers -- who they were and why they got their powers was the title "Solus". It was originally going to run 8 or 12 issues, forget which, but got abruptly ended at four or so because of the company's bankruptcy.

In the end it didn't really matter because the whole thing caved in.

Each title really COULD be read and enjoyed on its own since the overarching theme of the 'bigger' pupose of the Sigil bearers didn't often intrude. In other words, like in the case of Sam, most of the time he was busy saving his own world and his own friends and his grand destiny wasn't really a part of it.


IF you're interested, though -- there are a lot of current "hot" artists who got their start on Crossgen titles -- like Steve McNiven. In some ways I still think McNiven's best work was on "Meridian" and not the stuff he's doing for Marvel... but that may be the influence of inker and colorist as well.

[ratzo]

Just to expand a bit further on the nature of the sigil - the powers the sigil manifested in people were usually a reflection of their actions and inner drives. In The Path, for example, the sigil started out with this guy who was a great fighter, so it made him even more of a great fighter. But at the moment of his death, his sigil was transferred to his brother, a holy man and a pacifist, so that same sigil worked differently for him. It gave him the ability to control people with his voice at a point when he really needed to talk his way out of a situation. I always thought that was a clever way to develop a CG character's powers.