Written by Mike Carey
Illustrated by Leonard KirkIn the war for forever, time is only an
obstacle. Warriors jump from century to century, their battlefields span all of history but have led them to a stalemate. But now a 16 year old girl from present-day South Carolina will turn the tide. The symbol on her chest makes her part of this war, but will she save us or damn all of creation? New York Times best-selling scribe Mike Carey (Age of X, The Unwritten) and Leonard Kirk (New Mutants) begin the next great comic epic.
I never read a comic from CrossGen. Ever. Not on purpose, mind you. It’s just something that never ended up happening. I know a little about CrossGen thanks to fellow MC writer Brandon Burpee, but nothing that has come from the experience of reading. I would’ve been happy to read CrossGen had I known more about it when it came out, but alas if ifs and buts were candy and nuts, etc.
However, now that Marvel has brought the imprint back, I felt like now was as good a time to give it a shot. I mean, Mike Carey knows magic, right? What could possibly go wrong!
Click behind the cut to see if my hop across universes worked out.
There are a few constants in comics that usually manage to have a wide appeal to varied audiences, two of them being “teenagers” and “magic.” These elements have honestly worked through various mediums for years, with things like Buffy, Supernatural, and Charmed obviously coming to mind (all three of which have tie-in comics now). So with Sigil being the world’s first return to the CrossGen universe with a teenage heroine and magic, one would assume that it could easily be a good place to start. The nice thing here is that despite the history that obviously comes with a universe like CrossGen, the book still manages to be rather accessible for even the newest of readers, which is ultimately what a book like this needs.
With the first issue of Sigil, we are introduced to our protagonist Samantha, a young girl still in highschool who lost her mother and lives alone with her father. Unfortunately for her, she has a mysterious birthmark on her chest, which just so happens to be the famous CrossGen sigil – a mark that connects characters across universes and genres. And wouldn’t you know it, that exact sigil is what gets our heroine into so much trouble with the first issue as it teleports her – against her will – onto a pirate ship that may or may not have a deeper connection to her history. The issue does not take any time to fully explain the sigil, despite it being the centric element, but the nice thing about the issue is that it still manages to get it’s point across. On the one hand, those who don’t know what the sigil is before going into the issue are given a curious and intriguing mystery about the origin of the birthmark, which will assumedly be resolved at a later issue. On the other hand, for those who know already what the sigil represents as far as the CrossGen universe goes, the issue still manages to have it’s fair share of intriguing unanswered questions to keep the reader coming back for further issues, especially given Samantha’s proposed lineage. On top of that, the last two page splash – which features what I can only assume is a familiar character – offers up a wonderful close to the issue, in a rather great Mike Carey fashion.
As an additional note, despite my lack of knowledge of the CrossGen world, I did read that the world Sam travels to is in fact a world from the old CrossGen comic El Cazador. So for those of you that have read CrossGen, I suppose that connection is probably an added bonus to the read.
While I can’t begin to pretend to know how much Mike Carey knows about the original CrossGen universe, I think it’s safe to say that he did his research here. With the ties to an older title present, Carey does here what so few manage to do with a title like this. You see, often times when a company like Marvel will release a mini-series for a character (such as, say, the recent and awesome She-Hulks mini), they’ll say that it’s perfectly accessible to new readers in a hope to reach a new audience with the characters. However, despite that, there often seems to be a set of necessary backstory that the reader should be aware of (in this case, World War Hulks, et all) in order to really get the story. With Sigil, coming from someone that has never read a CrossGen book for, the title feels incredibly accessible to the idea of CrossGen, while it pays it’s respect to what came before (as pointed out in the previously linked review). This sort of appreciation for both types of readers makes the book a very nice read, and more than anything intrigues me to want to see what else there was from the CrossGen while also anticipating what comes next. Good on you, Mike!
Continued belowMeanwhile, in the art department we have Leonard Kirk, who has the impossibly difficult task of illustrating two vastly different worlds that evoke two vastly different moods. He both has to give us the world of the modern teenager as well as that of the dashing and fantastic pirate life. While the book spends considerably more time in the “real world” (at least, assumedly for just this issue), the two worlds as illustrated by Kirk give us a rather nice NeverEnding Story type feel as we hop between the real and the fantasy. While the book traverses the universes in a rather abrupt way (clearly done so to build intrigue), Kirk offers up nice transitions with the art. His high school scenes are wonderfully youthful, and the brief yet intense looks at the world of the pirate has just enough “arrrr” to properly set the mood.
Suffice it to say, for a first trip into the world of CrossGen, this was a rather nice place to start. The only real draw back is that – all things considered – the issue of CrossGen doesn’t necessarily stick out among the other books that came out this week, especially in comparison to another book from Marvel with Carey’s name on it. While Sigil is definitely a fun place to start with the CrossGen world, it sort of feels like a “give it a shot if you have the extra cash” title. If you do happen to want to try out a new title this week, Sigil is certainly a book that I think a lot of people will get into it. Great writing and art, but still definitely a title to take a risk on in grabbing.*
Final Verdict: 8.4 – Buy
*Luckily for yours truly, the risk ended up being quite worth it – though I could theoretically see others not enjoying it nearly half as much as I did.
