Following the ‘Cutting Edge’ and their last journey in ‘The Siren’s Song’, forge ahead into a classic heist story with the attempt to steal the eponymous “Devil’s Mirror.”
Written by Francesco DimitriCover by Harvey Tolibao
Illustrated by Mario Alberti
Lettered by Jessica BurtonTomb Raider meets The Hunger Games in a brand-new series by renowned fantasy author Francesco Dimitri and award-winning Italian artist Mario Alberti.
Brought together by a clandestine corporation, the world’s greatest scientists, artists and entrepreneurs must unite to solve a mystery of epic proportions! The Dodecathlon continues, but time is running out! The team’s last hope is a lost artifact known only as the Devil’s Mirror!
Writing a heist story can be tricky. There is the need for a setup, a reason to perform the crime, and extensive preparation, on top of the requirement to give characterization to the mark to be robbed as well as the person or team robbing him or her. However, one way or another, Francesco Dimitri seems to be set on creating a story of this type with “Cutting Edge: The Devil’s Mirror” #1, the first half of a two-part follow up to 2020’s “Cutting Edge: The Siren’s Song” duology.
Although the page count of the start for ‘The Devil’s Mirror’ is relatively high, Dimitri makes sure to make the most of it all. The setup for the theft of the eponymous artifact is gone over in extensive detail, from an examination of security systems to an explanation of each person’s role, with a few surprises toward the end to keep things at least a bit fresh. In fact, the story is so heavily detailed that the idea of the “Edgers” losing seems hard to swallow… ironically setting off figurative alarm bells for those who recognize the elements of the genre itself, as a plan this well thought out is almost certain to run into trouble from unforeseen forces for the sake of drama.
Notably, the “Edgers” in the heist are not flawless people by any measure. Rather than seeking revenge or otherwise having lofty goals, the protagonists are criminals, despite some of them having moral fiber that causes them to help those in nightmarish situations. Although some of their targets seeming to be distasteful, it is hard to intentionally root for their success, especially with a decided dearth of information as to why they are actually doing any of this.
Unfortunately, not all of the story is well put together. Nearly the entire cast feels formulaic to a fault, consequently affecting the story itself and making it nearly strictly formula. Nearly every beat (aside from a very small number of exceptions) is so close to the repeated standard that fans of the genre will pick out almost every event. With the exception of Stella Orsini del Giglio, everyone, with such archetypes as the smart leader, the technological expert, the token even more amoral or even immoral team member, the hostile yet justifiably paranoid mark, the mark’s second-in-command, and the rival, proves to be decidedly unremarkable. Even the rare few that have noticeably shocking characteristics have difficulty standing out from many a heist archetype, just fading in with the rest of the group. Orsini del Giglio is the star of the show, whether or not the effect was intended, as while she is written as an archetypical character herself, she is just interesting enough, with enough facets, to keep from being immediately forgettable outside of one or two traits.
On top of the formula, the other major issue with Dimitri’s storytelling is that there is very little explanation of what is actually going on. Yes, we learn about the eponymous mirror, as well as the “trials,” but there is no reason given within the context of “Cutting Edge: The Devil’s Mirror” #1 for why it is happening. What is the dodecathelon? Who do they think of as this “Leviathan?” What is Integrated Systems, aside from a large corporation? All of these presumably were explained in ‘The Siren’s Song,’ but without that context, readers are left to be confused and locked out of the information that should be readily accessible for a presumed debut issue.
As the man behind both the illustrations and the colors, Mario Alberti has his work cut out for him. The two elements of the visual style complement one another, but how well changes from scene to scene, with the entire enterprise inexorably tied to Dimitri’s writing and Jessica Burton’s lettering.
Continued belowAlberti’s points-of-view shots are intriguing, seeking in line with a live camera feed for a motion picture. At times, the images focus in on close-ups, but the effect remains one of only moderate detail to faces, instead focusing on their attire or poses. There are exceptions, such as with Orsini del Giglio showing off her disguises or other important figures toward the latter half of “Cutting Edge: The Devil’s Mirror” #1, but overall Alberti seems to concentrate on the composition from a holistic standpoint, almost as though it belongs in a museum rather than on the page of a comic book.
Alberti uses different colors in order to make for a sense of safety versus an ominous air. In brightly lit scenes, especially in broad daylight, there appears to be less chance of outright conflict, especially as the protagonists case the location of their upcoming heist, making subversions of this safer aesthetic all the more shocking when they occur. By contrast, scenes with very heavy shadows, especially those lit with a single color (particularly a sickening green or a visceral red) in different shades, give a sense of hostility and danger, whether to show something dangerous or expand on a dark secret of one of the “Edgers.”
However, there is also a major problem with the composition of certain pages. Alberti’s scenes in a mirror maze are made with what could be intentional disorientation, but the organization of the dialogue, when combined with the structure of the scenes’ panels make it difficult to follow any of what is actually going on. The fact that Jessica Burton’s lettering sometimes has dialogue boxes with tails pointing to reflections rather than the actual speakers, even when other boxes in the same panels do point to said people, does not help at all.
These decisions may be a stylistic choice, but disorienting the header in the middle of exposition is liable to lead said reader to simply skipping over potentially vital information if they are too frustrated.
Final Verdict: 6.0– Confusing artwork and lettering combined with a lack of direct exposition on why readers should care about the events of a prior story leave this new arc of ‘Cutting Edge’ wanting.
