Sometimes the past is best left in the past … for you never know what the future will bring.
Creative Staff:
Writer: Lou Iovino
Artwork: David Cutler
Colors: Valentina Cuomo
Letters: Christy Sawyer
What They Say:
When Sela Mathers’ original book of stories was destroyed, the beings within were released into the world. Since then, Ray Faulkner – Earth’s power-hungry “Binder” – has been recreating the book. He believes that if he can capture all of the beings roaming free and restore the book to its original form, he’ll be able to use it as a portal to the other Realms of Power. But what happens when his plan backfires and a new threat is unleashed? Meet the evil Snow White!
Content (please note that portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The evil version of Snow White wants an existence of her own, however someone has her face and the life that she wants, and unfortunately that person is Sela Mathers. And now that she has the power of a Binder and the ability to release creatures under her command, there is nothing standing in her way to claim what should rightfully be hers. The former Guardian has no choice but to confront her doppelganger in order to release her hostage Belinda, but is she ready to challenge this sadistic portrayer? Sela has always wondered what her life would be like if she were just an ordinary person, but how can she really think that after all of the people she has helped?
As Snow White releases more of her minions to force Sela’s hand, the battles become more intense and the chances for the loss of life increases with every conflict. This dark guardian does not care who she must harm to get what she thinks she deserves and will go to any lengths to claim her prize. Each brazen attack makes her all the more bold, allowing her to release more of her hatred toward her twin. She does not care that her followers enjoy the blood lust, and in fact, at times she encourages it and allows them to release their own rage. But as Sela sees more innocents become embroiled within the attacks, she knows that they must end. And there is only way: to chase down her double to fight what they both want, the singular life of the one and only Sela Mathers. There will be only one victor, but who will it be?
In Summary:
I read the first issue of this series, I knew it would be an interesting moral dilemma, but I did not expect it end in such a unsatisfying way. Perhaps the limited space to explore the situation was the main restriction for this title, but it also leaves the reader wondering why it was handled in this fashion. The premier book allowed writer Lou Iovino to show how this dark Snow White hated the way she was treated by the Binder, like a tool for his own power and then turned the tables on him. But, after the initial conflict between the sisters, everything tumbled downhill, almost as if the darker side were throwing a temper tantrum and she allowed her rage to get the better of her own thinking. She never explained her rationale and when she did gloat to Belinda, it seems as if that idea were tossed aside in favor of more action scenes. This was same for Sela, having the issue opening with her wanting to have a normal life, and then later revisited, but then it was consumed by another attack. I would have liked to see an end of the two confronting each other, the classic dialogue between combatants trying to justify their side, but instead it was a quick battle with nothing really settled, a blunt statement of only one person being right.
The artwork for this wondrous series was majestically presented by David Cutler and the morose colors of Valentina Cuomo, drawing us into this perverted fight between two sisters. To be able to inject the bright images of Sela wishing for a normal life keeps this issue from being too depressing, but the constant need for the whole book to be consumed by battles makes the story all the more confusing; unless you are paying attention to the costumes, you can’t really tell who is lashing out in anger, until you see which allies are being struck down. Although the monotony of the fights are broken by softer moments of reflection, those conflicts are still inspiring to view with the gruffness of Snow compared to the introspection of Sela. The sisters are still two sides of the same coin, but to be able to present them so drastically with one scene after the other helps to differentiate shows that they are still the same, wanting to have their own life.
Perhaps if there was another issue between the beginning and end the whole concept would have materialized more completely, but as it is now, what could have been an intriguing idea unceremoniously falls flat on its face. There is no real emotional attachment since the two sisters’ tempers tend to blend into each other, no one able to make a stable argument as to who has the more valid point, all they did was let their swords do the talking. While Snow White vs. Snow White has an amazing premise, it stumbles around too much and instead of being a diamond in the rough, which could have been polished into a real gem, it was buffed too hard until the core cracked and exposed a one sided point: who ever has the sharper weapon – wins.
Grade: B
Series Grade: C+
Rating: T (Teen)
Released By: Zenescope
Release Date: July 27th, 2016
MSRP: $5.99
