By: Hoang Nguyen, Khari Evans, Paul Gardner & Mike Kennedy (story), Gardner (script & letters), Evans, Kinsun Loh & Nguyen (art)
The Story: It’s a steampunk-ish tale involving prophecy and ladies who kick butt.
What’s Good: I honestly didn’t enjoy a whole lot about this comic book. But if I had to pick out a high point, it is the art. Now, I’m going to throw some rocks at the art down below, but there is no denying that this comic has some very nice individual panels with very detailed and soft lines combined with painted looking colors. Even if this style isn’t a personal favorite of mine this issue definitely has its moments.
What’s Not So Good: I couldn’t make heads or tales of the story except that “things” were going on with a bunch of hot women called the Grey sisters and that they are part of some prophecy in this steampunk world that features dirigibles and lots of Imperial German military pomp and feel. But, that is really all I could glean. Much of the opening scene is told via narration boxes where it isn’t very clear who the narrator is (I hate that) and I generally don’t care for stories that use lots of short, choppy and mysterious narration boxes to set up the story. Just not my thing….
I also generally didn’t enjoy the art. Even if there is a panel or two that made me say, “Ohh….that’s nice!”, the overall look just isn’t a style I vibe on. The style is something I very much associate with a steampunky, Japanese RPG video game and although many of the characters have beautifully drawn faces, the soft, delicate linework combined with painterly coloring robs the characters of their vitality. They all look like they’re posing rather than “doing”.
Conclusion: If you really love the look of Japanese RPGs and enjoy steampunk, this might be worth checking out, but it didn’t light my fire at all.
Grade: D
-Dean Stell
Grade
Conclusion