MISC. MANGA, *Battle Chasers

Setting the bar pretty high for itself, Battle Chasers was part of Wildstorm's Cliffhanger lineup back when they where with Image Comics, and later when they were sold to DC Comics. This came out the same time as other popular Cliffhanger titles like Crimson and Steampunk, but Battle Chasers became exceedingly huge with gamers and otaku mostly due to it's anime style and JRPG backdrop. Creator Joe Madureira conveniently left the series on a "cliffhanger" as he went on to become a game designer. However, the series has recently been crowdfunded into an online game, with the promise of continuation of the comic.

Set in a steampunk-ish fantasy realm, Gully is the daughter of a legendary warrior Aramus, who has recently gone missing. Gully inherits her father's power gauntlets which endow the bloodline-worthy bearer extraordinary strength, and is hunted by werewolves sent by an unknown evil force. The young girl gains allies in the former war-golem Calibretto and the hermit wizard Knolan. They get help from Aramus' former prize protégé, an outcast warrior called Garrison, whose former lover interest, the series' poster girl Red Monika, tries to free a prisoner from a floating prison. The prison break lets out all the deadly criminals and abominations that leads our heroes to band together to protect the kingdom, which isn't as justly run as it seems.

Battle Chasers lasted originally for nine issues with about four different trade paperbacks, which also included a prelude one-shot and a feature in a fantasy magazine. Whether or not the series continues is still not fully disclosed, but it is worth looking into the first few issues. Joe Madureira based his work on gritty mid-90s anime fantasy similar to Bastard, Berserk and Ninja Scroll. So, if the works of Yoshiaki Kawajiri are what you crave, then give Battle Chasers a look.