This issue of TRINITY OF SIN: PANDORA finally gives the reader a slice of what this mysterious woman’s past entails. On the verge of death and with her lover’s life hanging in the balance, we are dragged back into the world of magic, and the price that comes with it.
With the complex conjoining of three most unlikely characters, I felt the story shards come together in an intricately woven dance, giving an insight as to how and why Pandora must control the magic inside of her as a sorceress. It was the power of love that drew the ancient mystic to rise from near-death, the driving force the resurrect Marcus driving her back to life ,even while her companions argued with each other.Her empowered mission is a strong theme throughout the issue, one that even Giganta has faith in despite her own troubled past.
The chronological flashbacks reveal how Pandora’s love surpasses time to find Marcus and revive his soul in each age he has fallen. The historical panels of Pandora’s use of her blessed weapons through time depict the dedication she holds to her cause, and her ghostly candor resonates the seriousness of the passion in her sustained story. It brought a real tear to my eye to see how much the writer, Ray Fawkes, carefully constructed her message of love and cleverly placed it against moments that only Pandora, in her penance, would have survived.
Positives
The intricate story line keeps the reader absorbed the entire issue with an inspiring story of love. It’s the contrast between the historical eras of Pandora’s life that express the passion that Fawkes feels, not only for the story, but for Pandora as well. Detailed art compliments the scripting with bold warm colors that contrast the cool supernatural spiritual effects from Pandora’s magic. Francis Portela and Andrew Dalhouse’s penciling and coloration display so much depth in both detail and colouring, while using a blending of tones and reflections of light to attract your eye to each panel. I also thought the speech bubbles from Pandora were practically clever, with the red bubble encasing the white and the wavy writing to indicate her tone is not of this world. It gives her another dimension and a touch of ghostly presence.
Negatives
It bothered me slightly that the artwork gave both Giganta and Jennifer a rather manly look in a lot of the panels. I understand that the ladies are more dominant towards those lines, but they are still women and there was something slightly off about the hard jawlines and dominating facial features. I also found the villains entrance a little puzzling, they were vampires indeed, but the fact that the female retained her sexy appearance and the males looked like demonic monsters had me questioning, “Was she kept that way for the sake of showing off a woman in a sexy red dress?” Late, a room that seemed at first to only contain a small party suddenly amassed into a horde from hammer space, which raised a confused eyebrow from this reviewer.
Verdict
In the end result, the issue uncovers some of the unanswered questions that readers had been wondering about with a solid heart and soulful message. It was a sweet journey that made me connect to Pandora even more, and left us with a storm on the horizon. So all in all, if you were reading for story, you got it.
Rating
