The temptation of darkness.
Creative Staff:
Story: Kevin Panetta
Art: Paulina Ganucheau
What They Say:
Evil mean girl Diana, powered by the malevolent goddess Cimmeria, is about to overrun the remaining members of the Zodiac Starforce. Can they put their differences aside and unite to free team leader Emma and save the day? It’s gonna mean so much detention for them if they don’t!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
It’s been a few months since the last installment of Zodiac Starforce, but for the fans of the series it’s definitely worth the wait. The book has taken a lot of what makes magical girl material fun in the classic sense, as defined by Sailor Moon, while giving us something more Western and updated in good ways. It still keeps to what makes it what it should be, but I also just loved the fact that the whole thing dropped us right in the middle of something that feels much larger. This final chapter of the (first?) miniseries certainly does a solid job of reinforce that there is a lot of history here and that helps to make this feel a lot more well rounded than it might otherwise.
This installment works two main plots overall as it drives forward towards the conclusion where they meet. For Emma, she’s “dead” and is now being tempted by Cimmeria in her realm to become like Diana and accept her power and command. Diana gave in easily to get her friends back and Emma is tempted on some level with the potential of her mother coming back whole. Spread over the bulk of the book, it’s a visual treat with the otherworldly locale, the design of Cimmeria that feels positively old school Leiji Matsumoto in its look, and the strength of character that defines Emma. She’s had a weaker arc in the series overall because of the infection, but she gets to step up well here in facing off against the Big Bad in a predictable but well executed well.
Alongside this, we get to see the chaos in the real world where Diana and her side are throwing everything they have at the other members of the Starforce. For Savi this is even worse because Lily has been put under Diana’s control and is fighting against her, which with their recently blossomed intimacy just makes it all the harder. Diana is kind of a caricature here to a degree as a classic brash and loud villain, but she’s got an intensity that works and is backed up by her minions. The Starforce gang is mostly working a holding action against the horde until Emma returns and the main weak point here is Molly as she gets little to work with. Kim doesn’t fare too much better but at least gets to rumble a bit. It’s a standard big end battle as you’d expect, but Ganucheau nails the energy of it as it all barrels forward and connects back up with Emma’s storyline.
In Summary:
Zodiac Starforce comes to a solid and busy conclusion here with the battle against both Diana and Cimmeria. The series has had a strong hook to it from the get go and has built up a world that I imagine a lot of fans really want to see a whole lot more of. The characters are an engaging Western take on the teenage magical girl genre that will likely connect a whole lot more simply due to a more diverse group of characters and social aspects that really aren’t touched upon in Japan. Panetta’s scripts a bit too busy for my tastes to some degree, especially as Ganucheau puts together some great looking pages with two-page spreads of layouts, but there’s a lot to convey and it hits it well. I’m certainly up for more.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: February 10th, 2016
MSRP: $3.99
