BABS: THE BLACK ROAD SOUTH #1 / Script by GARTH ENNIS / Art by JACEN BURROWS / Colors by ANDY TROY / Letters by ROB STEEN / Covers by JACEN BURROWS, ANDY TROY, JOHN MCCREA & MIKE SPICER / Published by AHOY COMICS

In 2024, Ahoy Comics published Babs – a sword and sorcery satire. As a fan of the genre, I was looking forward to it. Unfortunately, I found it disappointing. It was not bad, but I had expected something truly outrageous. How could I not with Garth Ennis (Preacher, The Boys, Hitman) on deck?

Sadly, Ennis’ mockery was largely reserved for incel fantasy fans who complain about women warriors. Most of the jokes were the same old gags about chainmail bikinis that were played out when Dave Sims wrote Cerebus. As far as parodying the genre went, Gail Simone and Mark Russell did it better in their Red Sonja runs. Ditto the various Barbaric miniseries from Vault Comics and Queen of Swords.

Still, enough critics and fans must have liked Babs to merit a sequel. Hither then come Babs: The Black Road South. And hither comes me, to see if maybe I didn’t give the original series a fair shake.

After a brief flashback to Babs’ formative years, we are reintroduced to our titular heroine. She is a bawdy barbarian, dark of hair and dark of humor. Still, after some recent troubles, she is able to make a small fortune fighting in the arena after only intending to kill an annoying former associate.

With her best bud Izzy and her sentient sword at her side, Babs is ready to enjoy the high life. However, a night of debauchery soon ends with their fortune squandered and a search for new employment. This sends them on a new quest into the dark land of Mordynn.

Ennis’s humor is somewhat better this time, as he gets away from tired jokes about scanty armor. The high point involves Babs and Izzy singing at a magical karaoke bar. For the sake of spoilers I cannot discuss the gangster rap they perform, but I did get a chuckle out of the dwarves singing a song about a certain halfling that had the lyrics changed on the karaoke scroll for legal reasons.

As with the first Babs series, the high point here is Jacen Burrows’ artwork. While Ennis seems to be is phoning it in, Burrows offers up some truly innovative monster designs. (Consider the panda/unicorn man on Page 6 of the preview above.) He also manages the truly amazing feat of making Babs and Izzy’s impractical armor look like something a woman could wear without major back issues or chaffing. Andy Troy and Rob Steen also deserve an attaboy for the colors and letters.

As far as fantasy comedy goes, there are much better series than Babs: The Black Road South #1. It is amusing at times, and the artwork is good. Yet I feel it is largely average and inoffensive. That may be the most damning thing I can say about any comic written by Garth Ennis, but so be it.

Babs: The Black Road South #1 arrives in comic shops on January 14, 2026.