Damnation Crusade

Last updated

Warhammer 40,000: Damnation Crusade
Damnation Crusade1.jpg
Cover to Damnnation Crusade No. 1
Art by Lui Antonio
Publication information
Publisher Boom! Studios
ScheduleMonthly
Format Limited series
Genre
Publication dateDecember 2006 – July 2007
No. of issues6
Creative team
Written by Dan Abnett
Ian Edginton
Artist(s) Lui Antonio
Letterer(s) Ed Dukeshire
Colorist(s) JM Ringuet
Editor(s) Mark Powers
Collected editions
Damnation Crusade ISBN   1-934506-11-7

Damnation Crusade is a six-issue comic book limited series from Boom! Studios, written by Dan Abnett and Ian Edginton.

Contents

Set in the fictional world of Warhammer 40,000, it is a vision of never-ending war. Its storyline follows several different Space Marines of the Black Templars chapter.

Characters and plot

The series follows several characters in each issue. Dates and places are given in the form of crusade names and battlefields.

Sword Brethren Gerhart, part of Marshal Korneliusz's Company, is followed fighting at the battle of Carrion Gulf, during the Third Year of the Torment Crusade, fighting Chaos Space Marines. He is seen earlier fighting Necrons at the Succubae Gates, where his fellow Space Marines fear he has too much pride, a sin to the Black Templar Space Marines. While declaring his own feats of victory, his brothers try to persuade him that they are merely servants of the Emperor, and how that they fight only for His glory. He is called away by Marshal Korneliusz, who subtly warns him of his sinning, at which Gerhart sees how he was wrong to act in the way that he was. Gerhart is then shown going to a chapel, meeting with Chaplain Ecastus to ask forgiveness of his vanity and ego, only for the Chaplain to say that Gerhart has none, and only chases battle to praise the Emperor. Later, Gerhart is part of the assault on Magnum Christi, a minor moon on a back-water planet that had been taken over by the forces of Chaos. The Chaos forces flee, despite having both the troops and the tactical positions to drag out the fight. Gerhart and other fellow Space Marines follow the retreating forces of Chaos, only to find why Chaos had invaded the planet; Two Titans, legendary machines of war, have been found by the forces of Chaos. As his squad mates die one by one in duels with Chaos Astartes and with Brother Skeld's reinforcements en route but delayed, Brother Gerhart makes a final stand.

Brother Tankred is a Dreadnought. who is awakened by Techmarine Arnulf to fight on the Eve of the Kasiroth Offensive. The Kasiroth Offensive is a battle against Tau, where Tankred suffers damage from a Battlesuit, although Tankred makes short work of it soon after. Tankred is next shown awakening before repairs from the previous battle were carried out. As the servitors under Arnulf's command scurry for more chemicals to soothe Tankred back to sleep, Tankred declares he has had enough sleep and wishes to speak to Arnulf of previous battles and times, despite the pain of being repaired. When Tankred next awakes, it has been over two centuries and Arnulf is dead, replaced by Techmarine Piramus, his Adept. Piramus informs Tankred on the situation, that Tankred is tasked with destroying a Daemon Prince of Chaos that has destroyed countless Imperial Forces sent to destroy it.

Recruit Raclaw, on Kilhaven, has been chosen to join the Black Templars after being forced to fight for his life against fellow kinsmen and an alien tiger-creature called a Carnodon. Victorious, he is chosen to be tutored in the ways of war by Brother Brunner. Raclaw is then shown after going through the rigorous surgical process of becoming a Space Marine. His first test is fighting and killing another recruit whose body reacted violently with the surgical process and is no more than a ravening monster. Raclaw goes on to suffocate it with the very broken chains that kept it secured to a wall. Raclaw is then shown having become a Neophyte, about to be led into battle against Orks, and survives the battle, causing many casualties against the Greenskin forces after fighting back to back with Brother Cassius. Shortly after, Raclaw and Brunner are part of the Relief of Helespont, where they fight against the forces of the Eldar. Brunner is killed, ripped in half by a Wraithlord. After the battle, which the Black Templars are victorious, Brother Tove replaces the deceased Brunner as Raclaw's Initiate.

The ending of the six-part story shows Raclaw being elevated to the status of Initiate after six decades of training and taking Brunner's forename, "Gerhart", as his own. As the ending unfolds, it seems that Raclaw was Brother Gerhart when he was a Neophyte, and after taking serious and mortal wounds while fighting a successful last stand in the Battle of Carrion Gulf on Magnum Christi, Brother Gerhart was in turn placed in Dreadnought armour. Meanwhile, the Dreadnought Tankred is shown fighting the unnamed Daemon Prince and, although badly damaged, he manages to slay the monster. Shortly after the battle, he is shown being tended to by Techmarine Piramus when Brother Tove, whose full name is revealed to be "Tove Skeld", enters the room where Tankred is hoisted for repairs. He tells the Techmarine that Tove was once Tankred's Initiate and later his Brother-in-Arms. Now that it is known that Tankred was once Brother Gerhart of the Sword Brethren, and before that he was Neophyte Raclaw. The story ends with a barely conscious Tankred saying "Tankred endures...", alluding to the idea that the whole plot revolves around one individual rather than three different ones, to which Tove replies, "As do we all, Brother – In the Emperor's Name!".

The twist ending of the story is due to its nonlinear storytelling.

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Warhammer 40,000</i> Miniature wargame

Warhammer 40,000 is a miniature wargame produced by Games Workshop. It is the most popular miniature wargame in the world, and is particularly popular in the United Kingdom. The first edition of the rulebook was published in September 1987, and the tenth and current edition was released in June 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dan Abnett</span> British comic book writer and novelist

Daniel P. Abnett is an English comic book writer and novelist. He has been a frequent collaborator with fellow writer Andy Lanning, and is known for his work on books for both Marvel Comics, and their UK imprint, Marvel UK, since the 1990s, and also 2000 AD. He has also contributed to DC Comics titles, and his Warhammer Fantasy and Warhammer 40,000 novels and graphic novels for Games Workshop's Black Library now run to several dozen titles and have sold over two million copies. In 2009 he released his first original fiction novels through Angry Robot books.

<i>Warhammer 40,000: Fire Warrior</i> 2003 video game

Warhammer 40,000: Fire Warrior is a Warhammer 40,000 video game for the PlayStation 2 and Microsoft Windows. It was developed by Kuju Entertainment and released in September 2003.

<i>Gaunts Ghosts</i> Series of Warhammer 40,000 novels by Dan Abnett

Gaunt's Ghosts is a series of military science fiction novels by Dan Abnett, set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. It was inspired by the Sharpe series of books written by Bernard Cornwell.

<i>Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War</i> 2004 video game

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War is a military science fiction real-time strategy video game developed by Relic Entertainment and based on Games Workshop's tabletop wargame Warhammer 40,000. It was released by THQ on September 20, 2004 in North America and on September 24 in Europe. Three expansion packs have been released: Winter Assault in 2005, Dark Crusade in 2006, and Soulstorm in 2008. Its first sequel, Dawn of War II was released in February 2009. Another sequel, Dawn of War III, was released in April 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black Library</span>

The Black Library is a division of Games Workshop which is devoted to publishing novels and audiobooks set in the Warhammer Fantasy Battle, Warhammer Age of Sigmar and Warhammer 40,000 fictional universes. Some of Black Library's best known titles include the Gaunt's Ghosts and Eisenhorn series of novels by Dan Abnett and the Gotrek and Felix series by William King and Nathan Long.

<i>Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War – Winter Assault</i> 2005 video game

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War – Winter Assault is the first expansion to Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War for the PC developed by Relic Entertainment and published by THQ. Based on Games Workshop's tabletop wargame, Warhammer 40,000, Dawn of War: Winter Assault was released on September 23, 2005. Some time after its initial release, Winter Assault and Dawn of War were coupled together in a double pack which featured some art on a fold out cover, an Ork with a flamethrower, or a group of Imperial Guard tanks lined up for attack. Though Winter Assault required the base game to play, its follow-up expansions, Dark Crusade and Soulstorm were stand-alone, not requiring the base game.

Warhammer Monthly was a comics anthology published by Games Workshop's publishing arm, Black Library, from March 1998 to December 2004, running to 86 issues in total. The final two issues were published bi-monthly under the name Warhammer Comic. It featured stories set within the fictional universe of Games Workshop's miniature wargames Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000, amongst others.

Warhammer 40,000 comics are spin-offs and tie-ins based in the Warhammer 40,000 fictional universe. Over the years these have been published by different sources. Originally appearing in Inferno! and Warhammer Monthly, the initial series of stories have been released as trade paperbacks by Black Library, who have also released original graphic novels and shorter prestige format comics.

<i>Forge of War</i>

Forge of War is a five-issue American comic book limited series from Boom! Studios, written by Dan Abnett and Ian Edginton, and set in the low-fantasy world of Warhammer Fantasy.

<i>Blood and Thunder</i> (comics) Comic book series

Blood and Thunder is a five-issue comic book limited series from Boom! Studios, written by Dan Abnett and Ian Edginton, set in the Warhammer 40,000 Universe.

<i>Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine</i> 2011 video game

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine is a third-person shooter hack-n-slash video game developed by Relic Entertainment and published by THQ. The game was released for PlayStation 3, Windows, and Xbox 360 in North America, Australia, and Europe in September 2011. It was released in Japan and published by CyberFront on October 27, 2011.

<i>Ultramarines: A Warhammer 40,000 Movie</i> 2010 British film

Ultramarines: A Warhammer 40,000 Movie is a 2010 British adult computer-animated action science fiction film set in Games Workshop's fictional Warhammer 40,000 universe and based on the Ultramarines Chapter of the Space Marines. Terence Stamp, Sean Pertwee, and John Hurt head the cast of voice actors, and the screenplay was written by Black Library author Dan Abnett.

<i>Warhammer 40,000: Regicide</i> 2015 video game

Warhammer 40,000: Regicide is a turn-based strategy chess-like video game developed by Hammerfall Publishing for Microsoft Windows, iOS and Android, set in Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000 universe. The game was released in an early-access form via Steam on May 5, 2015. The game was fully released on September 8, 2015.

<i>Warhammer 40,000: Conquest</i> Card game

Warhammer 40,000: Conquest was a Living Card Game (LCG) produced by Fantasy Flight Games, set in Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000 universe. It was announced in March 2014 and was released October 3, 2014. The game featured two players competing to win a series of battles on a different planets while simultaneously securing the resources of other planets that will have battles on subsequent turns. Fans of the game praised the strategic element of having multiple distinct battle fields as a feature that distinguished it from other card games. On September 9, 2016, Games Workshop announced that Conquest would be discontinued in February 2017, as a result of Games Workshop's failure to renew Fantasy Flight Games' contract because of a conflict between Games Workshop and Fantasy Flight Games' parent company, Asmodee. The game still has a small community of players who play with the cards that were printed before the game's discontinuation in 2017, and some fans have made unofficial expansions to expand the small card pool.

<i>Battlefleet Gothic: Armada</i> 2016 video game

Battlefleet Gothic: Armada is a real-time tactics video game developed by Tindalos Interactive and published by Focus Home Interactive. It is set in the fictional universe of Warhammer 40,000, and is specifically an adaptation of the miniature wargame Battlefleet Gothic by Games Workshop.

Warhammer 40,000: Space Wolf is a free-to-play, squad-based strategy card game, developed and published by HeroCraft. The game is licensed by Games Workshop. The game was released on October 28, 2014, on iOS and on Android on July 16, 2015, and on Microsoft Windows via Steam on February 17, 2017. The PlayStation 4 version was released in March 2019 in North America and Europe, and on Nintendo Switch on January 23, 2020. It was later released for Xbox One on June 30, 2021.

<i>Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War III</i> 2017 video game

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War III is a 2017 real-time strategy game with multiplayer online battle arena influences, developed by Relic Entertainment and published by Sega. It is the third stand-alone title in the Dawn of War series, and the first new release in the series since Dawn of War II: Retribution in 2011. It was released for Microsoft Windows on April 27, 2017. Feral Interactive released macOS and Linux versions on June 8 the same year. Linux version uses both the OpenGL and Vulkan graphics APIs, while the macOS port uses Apple's Metal.

<i>Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2</i> Upcoming 2024 video game

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II is an upcoming third-person shooter hack-n-slash video game developed by Saber Interactive and published by Focus Entertainment. A sequel to Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine (2011), the game is scheduled to release for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X and Series S on September 9, 2024.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.