Artifacts #32 - Hell, On Wheels
Tom Judge is no stranger to Hell and the horrors it conjures. In his effort to redeem Jackie Estacado's accursed soul, he finds something much more surprising. But what he won't find represents an even darker omen.
Preview
See
Artifacts #32 Exclusive Preview
Review
See the Review Rating Overview page for more information on how I rate each comic
Cover & Solicit 4/5
We get a single cover drawn by Stjepan Sejic
(Witchblade, Cyber Force and Army of Darkness) featuring Tom and Tilly. While we see them riding a roller coaster from hell, they actually take another mode of travel to get there. And like last issue the cover is different than the originally solicited one.
Art, Colors & Inking 3/5
This issues art was done by Chan Hyuk-Lee. The art in this issue was just alright for me and didn't really compare to the amazing work Yoon's or Sejic in my opinion. In some scenes there was little to no detail and the colors at times came off dark. In one scene Tom almost looks like he is Asian and facial features just seemed strange. While I normally gripe about some comic coloring being too dark, I feel this time is was justified to give Hell a creepy and demonic vibe. I've mentioned in prior reviews that the "painted" style can be hit and miss and for me this was a little of a miss. Don't get me wrong the art looks good and isn't the worst I've seen but I miss Yoon.
Layout & Flow 4/5
This is my second issue of Artifacts after
issue #31, and I'm still impressed with the series even if this issue seemed out of place at first. This issue takes place after the events that will transpire in
The Darkness in future issues so that can make it a little disconcerting at first. Also we start the issue with Tom in the middle of the city, with little reasoning at first until a few pages in. Top Cow does provide the previously page so it does help new readers get caught up, so that is a bonus. Once the issue gets going however it does flow very well. I am however concerned with both
Witchblade and Artifacts being ahead of the current The Darkness issues because it makes things a little confusing at first, and I don't want anything to be given away for the future The Darkness issues.
Story 4/5
The issue is again written by Ron Marz
(Green Lantern, Witchblade, and Silver Surfer) who does an excellent job telling the story even if the flow is slightly off. This issue picks a litte bit after the last issue with Tom standing in the street before heading down into the subway to catch a train. Tom wants to know what happened to Jackie (The Darkness). The train however that he is catching is normally reserved to take the damned to the 9th Circle of Hell. The issue doesn't really add much in way of story progression but does start to setup the crossover for the death of The Darkness. I really enjoyed the few action sequence and we get a few surprises. I know Ron is moving on with Witchblade and I'm not sure how many issues he has left on Artifacts, but hopefully everything will come together in time for the conclusion.
Comments
Post a Comment