Even if you are on the run … no place is safe from Bloody Bones.
Creative Staff:
Writer: Pat Shand
Artwork: Manuel Preitano
What They Say:
Sela and her mentor Shang, along with their former enemy Belinda, have opened a school for a select group of Highborn and Falseblood teens with enhanced abilities. Their goal is to guide the teens who may one day be humanity’s only hope against evil from other realms.
Content (please note that portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Ever since Bloody Bones last attacked Arcane Acre, the students have been trying to find a way to defeat him by taking the fight to that monster. But for every hint they uncover, it seems that most of it is speculation – until they received a mysterious e-mail. Skye and Lance have now been on the run from the faculty Arcane Acre for some time now, living on the streets of Philadelphia, trying to track down the enigmatic sender. However, their attempts seem futile as they are quickly running out of money and the harbingers of that terror track them with every step they take. With everyone they defeat, their numbers increase, adding to the possibility of being noticed. The popularity of Shadow Girl grows, as Skye’s own powers are manifesting at an alarming rate.
But even as they strive to find the coordinates from the last message, the doomsayers hunt the pair down, endangering the public and bringing chaos. All seems to be collapsing in on them as they run from the demons, only to have a group of masked men come to the rescue. These vigilantes are from the group they have been trying to find, the very ones who sent the cryptic mail in the first place. Though as Skye and Lance endeavour to learn more about the organisation, Ali is struggling to justify their actions to Shang and Sela; the children’s escapades have endangered the school and now the Guardian is even more desperate to find her daughter. However, even as both sides are marshalling their forces for the next move, Bloody Bones waits for no one as he shows his sanguine stained claws in a preemptive strike. Will anyone survive his next incursion or are they all doomed to a horrifying end?
In Summary:
This issue is a refreshing change from the usually sombre tone of the series. Writer Pat Shand has achieved this by using Skye’s monologue to bring a more personable touch, almost as if she were recalling her adventure in her diary; but with the addition of Manuel Preitano’s artwork, the reader is able to see her story by the tech generation’s equivalent of a video journal. The passionate attitude she projects in her tale shows that she is her own person, but at the same time, her sense of justice demonstrates that she is also Sela’s daughter. The way the story flips from the daughter’s point of view and back to her mother’s shows although they may have different methods to gain the similar means, both Skye and Sela are after the same foe; but their plan is causing the same amount of grief in both women: the normally reserved Sela is frantic to save her child and normally carefree Skye is now depressed by the sadness she is causing her mother. However, her nom de guerre of Shadow Girl seems to foretell something more sinister is lurking in the darkness, crafted from her early childhood and now showing its sinister face in the present. We cannot overlook this conclusion as Shand’s tenure in the series draws to a close, and he might want to give us the ultimate bombshell as a present.
But Manuel Preitano’s art style is what brings this story to life. As we are immersed within Skye and Lance’s journey of discovery, the reader is overcome by the enthusiasm he projects as they keep trying to find the essential clue for tracking down Bloody Bones. Their cynicism shows through with each look and then the determination when they must face the messengers that the monster keeps sending. This scenery is so dramatically different compared to the almost draconian setting of the academy where everyone is on edge, Shang trying to keep the atmosphere normal, but at the same time, a martial law lockdown is necessary to keep anything from interrupting the students’ school life. To be able to show this dichotomy within the same issue is brilliant, though we still have to keep in mind that all of this will hopefully eventually result in the same result – the end of Bloody Bones, though the two approaches are balanced within the same story.
Skye and Lance appear to have found the answers they were seeking, but will they be able to achieve what they want – the destruction of their monstrous foe? Nothing is as easy as it seems, and you can be certain that he will not stand by while these children bring about his end. And now that they have found sanctuary, how easily can they sleep when they know that he has been hunting them down? We can only wait for the answers and keep our fingers crossed that no one else will have to die to bring about his downfall.
Grade: A
Rating: 17+
Released By: Zenescope
Release Date: March 16th, 2016
MSRP: $3.99
