Daniel Shim is an early Tony Stark type of character; a multi-millionaire without a care. He has a girlfriend, a mistress and a home that houses a way too serious younger sister and a way too stoned brother. Daniel it seems, has a family heirloom, a heirloom that was passed to him from his father. Thing is, Daniel doesn’t believe in, to paraphrase a certain scoundrel “hokey religions and mystical energy field”. That is until the mysterious Scorpio’s break in to rescue the heirloom, known as the Sword of Shadows. Though with 12 signs to worry about, chances are, the Scorpio’s aren’t the only ones interested in the sword.
John Robinson IV’s writing feels a little long handed in places. Having seen both issue 1 & 2, I am not sure if trying to squeeze every aspect of Daniel’s life in one issue was the way to go. This makes the book a long read as there are reams and reams of dialogue, which I will touch upon again later. At this stage, I am also not sure if we are supposed to like Daniel or not; to be honest, I know I don’t. I imagine that part of this will be the fact that at some point he will have his transition moment. The second issue, begins to look at other elements within the zodiac as well as the introduction of the bad guy. Overall, despite the verbosity of the books, there is a decent level of readability to them.
The art for the first issue is provided by Cezar Oliveira who manages to work through some of the overt stereotypes to deliver a well thought out book. The action scenes work well as do a large portions of the setup. All the characters look attractive and even if some of the faces have an odd not-quite-looking at the character that the dialogue implies. There is also a couple of odd camera angles that confused me. Still for the most part, its a well put together scheme. The second issue is drawn by Marco Zuffranieri and lacks the first’s polish. Zuffranieri tries hard; there are some good ideas in play but it just feels and looks inconsistent. Costumes seem to change depending on page number on more than one character and posses lack their correct perspectives. This is a shames as it feels that the pace is lost during this issue. Colors for both issues are provided by Viviana Spinelli who does a great job, given how the different artists have approached the story; the first issue is dark and the second, for the most part, is quite light. Either way, it’s a great job throughout. The letters are provided by LetterSquids and there are a couple of things to consider. Firstly there is way too many words in the first book. LetterSquids does extremely well to not let that impact the art or the storytelling. That said, there are a times when the layout of the boxes seems off. In the first issue for example, on the main page, the conversation starts on the left, though the boxes on the right are higher on the page, thus drawing your eye to them, incorrectly. There is also a three panel sequence where the flow of the conversation seems a little odd, visually. With the amount of huge boxes, Maybe Robinson could’ve looked to break it up to make it easier on the readers eye.
The series is off to a pretty good start. With twelve signs to play with, there could be a concern that Robinson is writing himself into a corner. However, with hints that “zodiac’s” from other cultures could make an impact and have influence, Robinson may look to extend his fantasy series.
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Writing – 3.5 Stars
Art (Oliveira) – 3.5 Stars
Art (Zuffranieri) – 2.5 Stars
Colors – 4 Stars
Letters – 3.5 Stars
Overall – 3 Stars
Written by; John Robinson IV
Art by; Cezar Oliveira & Marco Zuffranieri
Colors by; Viviana Spinelli
Letters by: LetterSquid
Author Profile
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I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow
Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network
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