Advance Review Artifacts #3 from Top Cow

Writer: Wong, Devon
Artist: Goodhart, Isaac
Publisher:Â Top Cow

REVIEW

Top Cow continue using their team up book Artifacts as a proving ground for their talent hunt winners bringing us an interesting tale from the past of the Darkness.

The whole tale centres on a nightmare had by Jackie Estacado that reveals a tale from the Darkness’ past also concerning another Artifact bearer, the Magdalena. The set-up is so simple yet as this book continues it opens up a dark tale of an insidious artefact tied to the Darkness the strained relationships between the Magdalena and her followers and also the betrayal that follows.

This issue crams an awful lot in for a one shot yet Wong is a capable writer that weaves this tale together with such confidence that you get lost in the mystery of it all. The dialogue does not feel forced and each character for the short time you spend with them acts in a believable manner that when all is revealed by the end of the tale you get that eureka moment as everything falls into place.

Continuing the great tradition of Top Cow artists Goodhart and Swan really pull out all the stops on this issue. The tone is realistic and everything is rendered in beautiful detail however, the heavy use of shadow throughout the entire issue gives the whole endeavour a great sense of dread that coupled with Wong’s script really make you get lost in the story whilst reading this issue.

This overall is a great one shot; it provides an interesting tale that would serve as a great taster for the Top Cow universe as a whole. It is intelligently written and drawn with such care and attentions that you can tell these are creators that have put their heart and soul into this book and as talent hunt winners I am interested to see what they bring out next.

4/5

By Matt Deery

Follow Matt on Twitter: @brujah69adÂ

Author Profile

Matt Deery

Matt Deery is an avid comic reader from the UK, relatively new to the writing scene but, enjoying being part of the Comic Crusaders team and getting to talk about some the books that I adore. Will read almost anything Marvel, with Spider-Man and Iron Man being my all time favorite comic book characters and has recently found a love for Image and Valiant books and generally anything Sci FI or Espionage related. Check out my twitter @brujah69ad if you want to stop by and talk comics, video games or movies!