“Sword of Sorcery” did enough last month to deserve another look. This month, both books offer some surprises that weren’t prevalent in their earlier installments, but also set up some hurdles that they’ll need to jump over to tell successful stories.
Warning: The following review contains blood, bile, and weird robo-trolls.
Written by Christy Marx
Illustrated by Aaron Lopresti
Backup written by Tony Bedard
Backup illustrated by Jesus Saiz– AMETHYST returns as this amazing new series begins!
– The good news: Amy Winston can transform into Princess Amaya, protector of Gemworld!
– The bad news: It seems her family wants to kill her!
– Plus: A backup story featuring the brutality of Beowulf!
The “Amethyst” portion of the issue opens on the brawl that ended its zero month story. Amy Winston has been dropped into Gemworld (her true home) for the first time in her adolescent life and is asked to wield a sword against brutish attackers.
“Everyone’s screaming and it stinks of blood and bile”, says Amy in the wake of a big, bloody sword fight. Whoa. Any all-ages line that you thought this book flirted with in the #0 issue is long gone now. Last month it didn’t look like “Amethyst” and “Beowulf” belonged in the same book. This month, it’s clear that “Amethyst” might be interested in outdoing “Beowulf” in this regard. It’s debatable whether you can knock the story itself for utilizing on-panel violence to demonstrate Amy’s unpreparedness for the duty that lies ahead of her, but it does speak volumes that DC Comics continues to actively avoid any all-ages titles in its New 52. Amethyst seems like the most likely candidate that you could hope for, but they’re clearly not interested in doing it. This story is only barely hampered by it in that the subject matter stands out as more gruesome than had been presented in the earlier issue. Still, the overarching problem of violence in DC & Marvel comics is a hot button issue worth discussion.
After the battle scenes, “Amethyst” suffers by being predictable and a little dry. There’s a double-edged sword effect in the fact that we’re given a lot of characters and “houses of influence” to keep track of in Gemworld. On the one hand, this succeeds in making Gemworld feel increasingly rich and populated. There’s plenty of story threads to follow and a lot of possibilities for where story arcs could go, as long as the book stays off the cancellation block. On the other hand, it’s not presented in an engaging fashion. It’s a lot of characters standing around and talking about power moves and subterfuge.
“Amethyst” gets some points for continuing to diversify the “New 52” adding a few new legitimate female characters and including some racial variety. Amy’s mother continues to be endearing, independent, and strong. The racial diversity is organic and not exploited for more than it is. There is a little moment that highlights gender inequality when it comes to societal roles in this fantasy world. As commonplace as this is in female-centric storytelling, it is also a very real issue in our own society. It totally works here. So far, “Amethyst” is working the best when it’s highlighting how these characters are different from what we get in the rest of the DCU, but feels bogged down in exposition when it comes to the plot.
Aaron Lopresti’s art continues to impress and stand among his best work, but the difference between his inspired opening action pages and the exposition scenes is painfully obvious. He’s not given much to do later on in the book and the imagery at this point isn’t spiced up enough to be memorable. The colors of each “house” in Gemworld pop and all the designs are good, but the strengths of his art are muted when his characters are asked to carry dialogue scenes. Let’s stay positive, though. The opening scenes of Amy finding her ability to fight and defend herself flow with an inexperienced sort of grace and Amy’s mother gets a powerhouse moment that Lopresti gives the necessary gravitas to.
Onto “Beowulf”, where Beowulf himself does just fine at being more violent and brutal than anyone in the aforementioned segment. He tears through his adversaries with efficiency, but with plenty of blood to go around. Bedard’s script in this segment can’t be accused of being dry at all, as he mixes classically ornate fantasy dialogue with a post-apocalyptic setting with run-down technological trappings. Beowulf is starkly similar to Deathstroke, which is an intriguing thought. A mention of Iron Troll mechs from “Waynetech” also serves to place this book squarely in the DCU, but it does beg some questioning. One wonders how the “New 52” got to be this way, how human lifestyles and speech patterns make sense in this timeline, and how this fits in with anything else in DC Comics. It doesn’t completely work, but it’s also marvelously unlike anything else DC is putting out. Jesus Saiz’s art is reliable, if not as impressively detailed as it was in the zero issue. The final page spread does feature a grotesque creature design that acts as a nice payoff, but the rest of the 10-page segment is par for the course.
“Beowulf” is unapologetically tearing through a post-modern sci-fi setting that feels so nihilistic and wacky that it’s amazing that it’s part of the same stringent “New 52” editorial that no one can seem to get anything past. It’s a treat to see something so different. “Amethyst” is something different too, to be sure. If “Amethyst” can eventually pay off on all of the plot threads that it’s going through so many pains in setting up, then this comic will end up being entirely worth the $3.99 cover price.
Final Verdict: 7.0 – Keep trying it. There’s a lot to like.
