Sectaurs #1 - Video Review by 80s Comics

Alright, is everyone ready for some 1980s insect‑themed fun that isn’t the Insecticons? Here on 80s Comics, it’s Sectaurs: Warriors of Symbion issue number one from June of 1985. The Sectaurs. What? You aren’t reading Sectaurs: Warriors of Symbion? Well, you’re missing out because this is a really good comic book.

Fantasy‑filled premier issue. It’s huge, and like Visionaries and Air Raiders, Marvel brought their A‑game. Mark Texeira on the artwork, Joe Rosen doing the letters, Bob Sharon doing the colors. Bob Budiansky is one of the writers, yes, the same Bob Budiansky from Transformers. Despite my inane voice delivery and incoherent rambling, this is a very good comic book. Part one in a series that lasted eight issues. The ink quality is really nice. The paper quality is actually not too bad. Based on a series of toys from the mid‑80s, the Sectaurs. Kind of like the Visionaries and the Aerators. They didn’t get super popular, but they were pretty cool toys if I remember correctly. I never had any, but I had a friend who had one or two of them.

These guys all have these cool insect mounts. Look them up online. They probably have these things on eBay. Collect some Sectaurs toys and run around the house with your Sectaurs. Nobody will think less of you these days. I won’t. I would do it. One of these characters even looks like that girl from Guardians of the Galaxy. Great detail, nice coloring, just a really good‑looking book. It reminds me a lot of Visionaries. I feel like Marvel put the same attention to detail into Visionaries, but neither series of toys was anywhere near as popular as G.I. Joe or Transformers. Not even close. They were pretty cool though. Maybe they were expensive. I don’t remember.

After this guy, whose name I’ve already forgotten, Varkon, Darkon, Zarkon, Zartan, after he defeats the thing in the lake, they’re going to celebrate by going to Stellara’s pub. Remember Stellara? I believe issue four features Stellara on the cover, but here she’s got a pub. And what they’re going to do at Stellara’s pub is quaff a frothing flagon of nectar.

This is a supersized premier issue introducing the bad Sectaurs. The Empress, General Spidrax, Commander Waspax. The planet is known to its insect‑evolved inhabitants as Symbion. The plot is absurd but fun. It’s like Yars’ Revenge meets fantasy comics. Mark Texeira’s artwork is excellent, detailed, technical, and packed with dialogue. There’s an enormous information drop in issue one, but it’s fun and well‑made, and the rest of the series is not too bad.

The bad guys are going to start a war. They invade a border town between the bad‑guy domain and the good‑guy domain. Nice sound effects, good artwork. Spidrax comes flying in on that cool Sectaurs creature. They hack and slash the village and use fake propaganda claiming the village is harboring a heretic who believes in the ancient ways of alchemy. This is supposedly illegal, but really they’re just attacking because they’re the bad guys. All 1980s comics needed good guys and bad guys who were just good and bad. Period. No more complicated than that. Except this time they look like insect people.

There actually is a heretic, even though they made up the story. Then we cut to the good Sectaurs. This guy here is Dargon. Dargon is the hero, the lead Sectar. He’s flying on Dragonflyer.

Through the trinoculars of General Spidrax, they watch the heretic using magic powers of alchemy. An astral form floats from the heretic’s body into a mountain and reveals an ancient lost hive of the ancients. The bad Sectaurs raid the lost hive. One of them reaches for a mysterious object, unaware that this is very bad. It unleashes a magical storm that basically crushes the entire planet. It’s the Great Cataclysm.

So many pages of artwork, and Mark Texeira artwork no less. It’s very good. The storm raises the land and causes incredible damage to both the good Sectaurs and the bad Sectaurs, who then have to meet in the palace and discuss things because all 1980s comics had good palaces and bad palaces and there were always discussions and trade committees and stuff.

Not the most exciting part of the book, but they’re still introducing all the characters, who look more or less the same. That’s what G.I. Joe, Transformers, and Star Wars did right, all the characters looked different. If they didn’t, there was a reason. Tomax and Xamot looked the same because they were twins. I don’t know anything useful, but I know this stuff.

The Great Cataclysm is caused by magic, and magic is forbidden. Blondie here, the lead Sectar, Darkon, Zarkon, Varkon, Varkan, Varkor, Yars’ Revenge, he’s the guy who gets the magic sword from his dad’s friend, who is a heretic. There’s so much more detail than you would expect from a 1980s comic book based on a series of toys, and it’s a lot of fun. The bad guys want the magic power to destroy things. The good guys wield the super sword.

1980s comics needed to have some kind of super sword: the Sword of Omens, He‑Man’s sword, a lightsaber, something. He’s got the magic sword of his father. It’s just good versus bad.

Visionaries is better. In fact, I think I even prefer Air Raiders, but you have to like Sectaurs. The amount of detail they put into the insect designs, not so much the character designs, but the insect designs, is very cool. It’s a nice book, a very good‑looking book. I picked this one up for, I’m going to guess, maybe $1.35. Sectaurs really holds its value. It was 75 cents when it was new.

But wait, there’s more. There’s also a little map here. It’s like Lord of the Rings. Look at all the thought they put into this. The Lake of Blood, Skull Island, the Shining Realm, where the good Sectaurs live. The Dark Domain, where the bad Sectaurs live. The Fog of Meander. They put a lot of thought into this. There’s even an alphabet.

Issue number one is a fun read. This is a short‑lived series, eight issues in total. Super cheap. And if you like Mark Texeira or his artwork, I think he does the second issue as well. Sectaurs: Warriors of Symbion is highly recommended by 80sComics.com. And then you can follow the adventures.