CHARISMAGIC: THE DEATH PRINCESS # 2
Written by Vince Hernandez
Art by Emilo Lopez, Jocelyn Dunn & Mirka Andolfo
Aspen Comics
FLIPPING THROUGH:
The
wizard Kon has returned to this realm to face off against the Death Princess
herself, Orlana. Orlana was ruling over a kingdom, bending people to her will
except for her love, Serke. We come to find out that Serke was once Kon’s
friend and Serke fell for Orlana because her powers don’t work on him.
Kon started gathering together
a group of mystics in order to stop Orlana. Yet, when Kon, Ro, Kentari,
Samsun, Eshera & I
did not catch the name of the final member. These mages with different kinds of
magic all decide to attack Orlana with Kon fashioning a special prison for her.
Yet, things do not go well as a battle in the air with flying mire leads to the
set up for next issue.
ART:
Emilio
Lopez has great energy in this book. The comic book/anime like style really
helps bring the characters and this story come to life. It’s simplistic yet
detailed enough. The characters were well drawn. The coloring by Lopez, Dunn
and Andolfo were good as well. Everyone looked distinct and the shading was
done fairly well.
Which
comes to my gripes. Lopez characters are good but the lack of interesting
backgrounds was a little bit of a downer. While classic comic book aesthetics
work well in this issue, there is far too much of it. There were really very
bland areas. And thus, the darkened colors for these areas seemed a bit much.
The pencils and inks are strong and the colors good but they were a bit too
dark for the issue. It felt that, besides the campfire which
Samsun joins Kon’s group, the rest of the
books had a bit more darker tones then I expected.
Visually,
the book is good just a bit darker in color tones than I think it should be. And
the lack of different backgrounds kind of seemed to work against it slightly
but only slightly.
Still,
a good showing by the art team.
WRITING:
Hernandez
does a good job pacing this story while making sure a lot happens in so few
pages. From the feel of just this 2
nd issue, it looks as if next
issue will be the final issue of this miniseries. And while there is a lot that
happens, it is still stuff that is entertaining and not forced. The progression
is nature. The characters are definitely interesting. Ro is strong and
seemingly keeping distances from the others. Eshera wants to avenge something
but very loyal to Kon. Kon seems like a good leader and speaker. And I like
that when he found that his friend had betrayed him … Kon made only one plea
then decided to fight. It was a very realistic reaction to a betrayal, in my
opinion.
The other characters seemed very fun
and I’d like to know more of them. Orlana is definitely one villainess that is
playing second to no one and I find that fascinating. Her lover is a man who
she cannot sway under her power: so his love is real and she respects that … to
an extent. And I applaud that. This isn’t a typical villainess by any means.
She will take free will cause she feels that it is her right. Yet, she seems
grateful to have a man who loves her
truly, since her powers don’t work on him.
Breezy
as the issue is, it is paced well. And it is working towards a strong climax.
Just wish there was more time to see more of the other characters. Yet,
Hernandez does well working within a confines of a miniseries.
OVERALL IMPRESSION:
Charismagic:
The Death Princess is a well drawn, well written romp into the realm of fantasy
and magic. The characters are interesting with just enough of them that you want to know more, a spectacular villainess
and a strong lead character. The art is good, despite the lack of more
backgrounds. And it is a comfortable read that you will want to know what will
happen next.
RATING:
I give Charismagic: The Death
Princess # 2 a 8.4 out of 10. It was good. It could be great, just need
slightly lighter color tones and a bit more time with the other characters.
Yet, for it having to be a fast moving story, it was good and I look forward to
next issue.
