This book has to work tow angles; firstly those that are not up to speed on The Dark Princess need to be brought up to speed and for those who have been faithfully following along (me), there is a need to start moving things along. The book is partially successful in both of the aspects, proving that in a compromise no-one, or no story element even, is the winner. Shang and Skye has rounded up the defenders of the Realm, including Robyn Hood. As they group discuss recent history and deal with all the different personalities, guess who shows up knocking on the door? Thus begins the battle for the Realm, once again.
Joe Brusha, Ralph Tedesco and Dave Franchini, the Fairy Tale trio, once again provide the story with Franchini credited as writing. Without speaking to them, I assume that this means that the trio talk about plot, story ideas and key point and then Franchini pulls it all together. It would interesting to know who is responsible for what. Still, it is a method which has served Zenescope well as at least the trio keep things in line, working toward their overall plot. Which is exactly how this books reads, with setups from previous books playing out, Skye is now faced with the mother of challenges. Granted, the whole father daughter aspect is a tad overworked; ideally this should be a nuanced aspect rather than having the point hammered in over and over again. There are a quite a few elements that should allow for jumping on points for a slew of characters whom have their own book, so we will see how solid the plotting for the big picture the trio is.
Guillermo Fajardo goes for quite a stylised look when it come to the art, taking a Todd Nauck look when it comes to the girls faces, at times in a very extreme way. For example, there is a very odd panel of Robyn on page 7, where half her mouth is missing? Big eyes seem to be the order of the day. There are a couple of big points in the book; The Dark Princess at the door of the school, one featuring Skye and one featuring Shang. Fajardo seems to miss the point on all of these; the first aspect, despite having a huge panel it is unclear as to what happening. As the other aspects, both seem to happen almost off panel which is a shame considering their story impacts! Colors are provided by Jorge Cortes who goes for a bold scheme with dark colors also used. The magic elements are well displayed. Taylor Esposito from Ghost Glyph Studios delivers his usual excellent work, which is a huge credit as there is quite a lot of verbiage. It’s Zenescope and its the modern world of comics, so there are few covers to choose from; Iva Tao’s cover C (see above) is the winner for me.
As one arc ends, another begins; with the conclusion of this book there are further challenges for those that protect the realm. Hopefully Brusha, Tedesco and Franchini will find an artist who can deliver consistency to match their ideas and the already impressive Zenescope production values.
Writing – 3.5 Stars
Art – 3 Stars
Color – 4 Stars
Overall – 3 Stars
Story by; Joe Brusha, Ralph Tedesco & Dave Franchini
Written by; Dave Franchini
Art by; Guillermo Fajardo
Colors by; Jorge Cortes
Letters by; Taylor Esposito of Ghost Glyph Studios
Covers by; (A) Igor Vitorino & Ivan Nunes, (B) Sheldon Goh & Hedwin Zaldivar
(C) Ivan Tao (D) Geebo Vigonte & Ivan Nunes
Published by; Zenescope Entertainment
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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