A Retrospective on The Sabbat Worlds Crusade background book

The reason I am writing up this retrospective on a couple of years old Black Library background book is that I have Xenology on my reading list, and I aim to review it from a Biologists point of view. To do that, however, I have to get my hand back in on reviewing shit. I also write this BEFORE watching this week's episode of Zero Punctuation, as I don't want to be "Yahtzee-fied".

So let's kick off, shall we?




Content and Writing

Ah, who am I kidding? It's Dan Abnett! The same Abnett that wrote the Eisenhorn trilogy and the Ravenor books. The mind behind the awesome Darkblade and Titan comics. And of course the whole Gaunt's Ghosts sequence, which takes place during the Sabbat Worlds Crusade.

Abnett, even at his worst (:cough:TheArmourofContempt:cough:) is still above the average Black Library writer, as far as I am concerned. His worst is still good. Abnett is the only Black Libary author that consistently delivers good stuff.

The Sabbat Worlds Crusade is no exception just because it's a background, or "fluff", book. If anything, it puts the Ghosts into a larger context that just makes it work so much better. It gives you better overview of everything taking place and prevents carpal tunnel syndrome.

The Art

This is after all a Black Library product. To not comment on the art would be rude. It is such a focal part of it, anyway.

There is only this little problem: there are more 'shoops than art. Especially 'shoops of historical people, and one device (getting to that), that a history nerd such as me are bound to recognize and want to place.

But first, the art. As in any BL or Games Wokrshop product, this is, as can be expected top-notch. It is also full of the dark imagery of Warhammer 40'000 that we all know and love. Yet, it still maintains that impish gleam and under current of juxta-positioned humour so typical of the game. If you do not know what I mean, look up page 50 in the book. It's a full page spread portrait of Warmaster Macaroth. He looks uncannily alike a certain French emperor who's last names rhymes with "Bones apart".

However, I can't go any further into the art without first dealing with the various 'shoops in the book. They annoy me for various reasons. Not that I consider them lazy (except one, I am getting to it), no it's not that. Most of them are well-made and add to the atmosphere of "authenticity". Though, at times the perceived authenticity in this books 'shoops feel like the authenticity of the Japano-English mish-mash in EdBerry Panic!, just more palatable. I mean, thought you could sneak that barely edited picture of a bombed out German city from WW2, past me, did you?
It's just that I find 'shoops bloody stupid when you have a collection of fantastic artists, such as Karl Kopinski and Des Hanley. Use them to their full extent, goddammit!!

What does annoy me really much with the 'shoops are the character portraits. They are, incidentially of famous historical people, or generals. I counted to two American presidents amongst those 'shooped: Ulysses S. Grant and Theodore Roosevelt. At least the "photo" of Tactician Antonid Biota on page 8 strongly resembles a young Teddy Roosevelt. And then there's Hector Dravere. I am not certain whether he's respresented by Paul von Hindenburg or Karl von Bülow, but it is most definetely a German general of the Reichswehr, not later than 1918. Narrows it down to a few hundred...

Though, even if this IS annoying, it is still kinda fun trying to recognize who they've 'shooped. It becomes a game of Cluedo, sort of.

The one thing that almost, I say almost, made me want to write off the whole book as a hack-job, as far as the art direction was concerned, was the photoshopped Enigma machine.

*facepalms*

Sadly, I haven't found a picture of it on the 'Net, but it's at the bottom of page 38. Take a look yourselves, if you have it and compare to the German/Nazi Enigma up there. Uncanny, eh? And dumb.

With all this unusual and uncharacteristic fail on behalf of the art direction, I was prepared to write off the book as a bad investment, despite Mr. Abnett's usual top-notch writing. Until I got to page 93, anyway.

If you have the book, look it up. Otherwise, here's a low-res scan of it.
That one Karl Kopinski piece (I'm pretty certain it's Kopinski) makes me forget all the Photoshop-fail in the rest of the book. That one piece of art epitomizes everything that is Chaos. It is dark and morbid, verging on the surreal. It is a total mood setter. It is a deeply unsettling piece of art.

And I love it. Yes, I do. Kopinski has done a spectacular job with it. He has sat down and thought about Anakwanar Sek, who's "voice drowns out all others", and drawn from that tagline. Brilliant.

Then I turn the page and is met by a wonderful Wayne England full-page drawing of a Son of Sek, that although being drawn by an artist with a very different style from Kopinski's, still has produced something that ties is very nicely with Anakwanar Sek's portrait. It's in the fine details.

Those two make me forget the Enigma-shoop, if just for a while. They make the book worth the money I spent on it, anyway. Abnett's writing is good, but not good enough to save shoddy photo-manipulations from getting a sound spanking.

Conclusion

The Sabbat Worlds Crusade is a background book that expands and adds to the story of the Tanith Ghosts. It isn't essential, but it helps giving you a broader picture of what's going on.
My only gripe is that, for this being a pet-project of Dan Abnett, not that much soul has gone into the art, in particular the photo-manipulations, which make up more than 70% of the picture content. Luckily, two of GW's best artists save it from a complete belly-landing with two excellent pieces of art at the end of the book.
It's just sad that the whole book can't meet this level of skill.