Oh, hey, this book is still getting published.
Creative Staff:
Story: Kevin Panetta
Art: Paulina Ganucheau
What They Say:
Defeated by the Zodiac Starforce, the demon Pavos rebuilds his strength to take them on again . . . this time for good! Molly discovers a secret the UK team is hiding, and the tenuous alliance between Zodiac teams is tested!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
With the first issue out in July of last year and the second in September, bringing out the third in January essentially keeps things on track – and forgettable. Here’s hoping the fourth issue sticks to its February release date because I’ve forgotten so much already that a longer wait for the finale could make it pretty problematic! It’s a frustrating reading experience because there’s so much fun with this book in general that having it lost between months of gaps in the schedule kills a lot of the energy. And Panetta and Ganucheau are putting in some great stuff here that delivers the fun and drama in all the right ways that will appeal to fans more comfortable with manga but also drawing in those that like more Western-oriented books – and their comics to be in color.
The arrival of this other group of Zodiac Starforce members is certainly intriguing but there are a lot of issues right out of the gate with it. The personalities clash big time and some of that comes from the fact that this group from the UK has been around for a while and don’t take kindly to some of these younger rookies. What makes it more problematic is that since members rotate out, there are those taking on the names of roles that their friends held before so it’s not exactly easy to let go. It’s hard to get a good handle on them because things move quickly here and it’s a packed issue but they do really come across as holding big secrets and not playing on the same level. That builds to some nice stuff toward the end, including the reveal of a captured Diana that I most definitely was not expecting. But at the same time, a lot of the weight of that reveal is killed because of the gaps, making me view this more and more as a trade-only kind of series.
With Molly being placed under medical care and out of sorts, the bulk of the team heads off to track down Pavos some more. Pavos himself is boosting up his power side a bit with another body, one that really upsets Nicole as it shows how far Alice is going in aligning with Pavos, but she’s still along for the ride. The greater fun is when the little creatures are discovered by the team that are bonding with objects and that has a pretty expansive and crazy fight going on, where true love is revealed amid the battle and the UK team introduces a new fusion form called ultimates that lets them really expend a lot of power with a lot of result. The downside is that they’re so weak afterward and that’s when Pavos will naturally show up ready for action.
In Summary:
I hate to seem like a broken record on it but it’s hard to really get invested in this series, as solid and good as it is, when it takes ten months to get four issues out and I’m reading a ton of material between. Sometimes monthly books can be a bit hard! The creative side here is strong once again as they deliver a fantastic book with a lot of silliness, great action, and the right level of drama across multiple character to really make it work in ways that might seem like it’s too much. But in the end they do pull it off and it’s just a hell of a lot of fun. The only thing I want, however, is for any future works – and I want future works – to be shifted to the original graphic novel approach instead of monthlies. This book requires that at this point with these kinds of delays.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: January 24th, 2018
MSRP: $3.99
