Review: Marked #2

In the previous issue of the Marked #1, we met our protagonist, struggling street artist Saskia, who enrolls in a mystical school for people with magical talents.Â Those people called “the Marked” have a special mission to rise up in times of despair and to bring light to the darkness by using their Glyphs that have been tattooed on their bodies.Â Under the Guardianship of the head mistress, Mavin, the school of the Marked has managed to a secret for hundreds of years, until another girls named Liza, convinces Saskia to experiment with hybrid glyphs leading to repercussions that puts them in the purview of a governmental organization called Stargate .

In the current issue the Marked #2, Liza has been expelled from the school of the Marked.Â She eventually links up with Stargate a classified Department of Defense program whose mission is to investigate the occult, and for the last 20 years they haven’t found anything until Liza falls into their laps.Â The director of Stargate convinces her to help them advance the program for tactical use.Â Liza can only take the program so far by herself so she recruit some of the Marked whether they like it or not.

At the end of the day the Marked #2, is another story development issue, but more from the side of the antagonist.Â I am actually thrilled to see it written out this way, but I am tend to get stalled on my speculation on when the darkness will come into play.Â It is possible that it is already in the background or in plain view.

Drawn by Brian Haberlin, the character designs for the Glyphs continue to be impressive.Â The panels that include the Inscribers are still my favorite, but the most significant character design continues to be Liz.Â I could definitely see her as a breakout cosplay character, heck even I even found myself looking up how much those Brookstone Wired Cat Ear Headphones cost.

Final Verdict: Even though the tropes run rampant through the Marked I like what I see, Light vs Dark, The militaryÂ is portrayed as being evil, misguided, or just plain warmongers. What bugs me a little is the Marked seems to bee too all-powerful.Â There is no visible limit to their power or what they can do.Â In the meantime while they wait for the darkness to show up they seem to be using their power for frivolous things like changing traffic lights glamour.

SCORE: 4 stars out 5.

The Marked #2 issue comes in two covers: the Cover A Regular is drawn by Brian Haberlin & Geirrod Van Dyke; and the Cover B Variant Brian Haberlin & Geirrod Van Dyke Wraparound Cover.

(W) David Hine, Brian Haberlin (A/CA) Brian Haberlin, Geirrod Van Dyke