Monday, July 15, 2013

1st Impressions: FATHOM - THE ELITE SAGA # 5

FATHOM: THE ELITE SAGA # 5
Written by Vince Hernandez, JT Krul & David Wohl
Art by V. Ken Marion, Mark Roslan, Kyle Ritter, David Curiel & John Starr
Aspen Comics

FLIPPING THROUGH:

                We open this issue with our heroines (Aspen, Anya & Kiani) trapped by the resurrected Taras and his giant squad monsters. They poison our heroines as Taras goes on about how the baby should have never been born and how the Squad monsters drain water from everything they touch. Yet, Kiani’s warrior skill gets her free. 

                As Kiani, Aspen & Anya get free, Taras does his best to deal with both Aspen and Kiani. Teras looks as if he’s going to kill Aspen when Anya attacks Taras with Kiani’s water blade. Taras shrugs off Anya only to deal with Kiani. Taras jumps into this machine that also has the baby in another part of it. But as the machine starts, Kiani attacks it with her sword, causing a terrible explosion and . . .


ART:

                This book has had a phenomenal run. A weekly miniseries, done by the same artist. V. Ken Marion continues to shine this last issue alongside digital inker, Mark Roslan. The final issue has plenty of emotion, interesting things (the cavern where they fought Taras, the Squad monsters & even Taras himself) and was visually appealing. Sure, we got a couple of splash pages but those were well worth it as it get weight to both moments they were used.

                Marion’s clean pencils are sharpened by Roslan’s fine inks. Our three heroines were very distinct in look and manor … Marion making sure that he shows that Anya is older. And our trio of colorists go all out this issue to make sure the colors were right for the areas and tone of the story. Nothing was too vivid and the color team made sure the source of light was something else since they are under the sea.

                Overall, a stellar job by the art team.

WRITING:

                In a surprise move, the last issue was scripted by Vince Hernandez instead of JT Krul. Yet, since the two of them worked out the overall story with David Wohl, it did not affect the flow of the story form the previous issues at all. Hernandez, Krul and Wohl make sure to have this issue have the right amount of action alongside of emotional weight.

                Status quos changed at the end of this issue as Aspen, Kiani and Anya were all profoundly changed this issue, thanks to Teras. Hernandez makes sure that the narration also carries a lot of emotion weight to pull at the reader’s heart strings and it DEFINITELY works. While Aspen does not seemingly do much, this story does have direct effects on her as her own status with The Blue and her normal walls that she has with people definitely came down a bit after this story.

                The finale was full of surprises, particularly the ending that will make your jaw drop. Kiani, though, is the most profoundly changed by the end of the events of the issue. This issue wrapped up the long stand issues well. My only real grip is no real team with Killian after the fact but overall, Hernandez delivers.


OVERALL IMPRESSION:

                An emotionally powerful ending that changes a bunch of characters profoundly. This was not so happy of an ending. The story was paced extremely well. And by the Matrix, is it beautifully rendered.


RATING:

                This was a wild ride with a strong ending. Minor gripe aside, this was an amazing final issue. Fathom: The Elite Saga #5 gets a 9 … out of 10.

                

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