A chance to fix a bad past.
Creative Staff:
Story: Vita Ayala
Art: Jordi Perez
Colors: Rebecca Nalty
Letterer: Ariana Maher
What They Say:
Xena’s World Tour rolls on! This month…ALASKA!? The Warrior Princess, her companion Gabrielle, and the dastardly (and depowered) god Discord are forced to fend off the freeze and may have make a deal with (ANOTHER!?) god in order to get back home! By VITA AYALA (Shuri, Wonder Woman) and ERICA D’URSO (The Life of Captain Marvel)!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
In a lot of ways I’m still surprised that I’m reading a Xena book. I had enjoyed the series when it aired in the 90s but that was a lifetime and a different me back then. This new series from Vita Ayala, however, is capturing the things that I did like about it and taking it a nudge or two further in the right ways to work well today, notably in the Gabrielle/Xena department. While it’s not overt, it’s better done than before. It’s also making out very well thanks to Jordi Perez on the art duties as I love the look of the characters and how they come across here, especially the expressiveness of it all, as they come alive wonderfully. Perez has quickly become a must-watch artist for me with the right material as there’s something special about everything they do here.
The premise for this issue is one that works nicely as we get to deal with a familiar fairy tale in a new light. Our two leads with Discord got transported into the cold the last time around and after a week of walking it’s Gabrielle that’s suffering with a bad cold, weakened body, and fluid in her lungs. I really like the way she and Xena interact here as Xena helps her over the final hurdle to finding a place to rest for a while, which has them wary. A small and odd home in the middle of nowhere, it’s owned by an old woman that’s close to her own end but happy to have people to help as healing arts are in her past. The problem is that she and her witchy sisters, gods of sorts themselves, had one of their own fall prey to loving a mortal previously and that caused them to lose their powers. Even worse, the mortal through problematic issues ended up spreading lies about the witches that they were evil and ate children.
And with gods, belief is power and the witch now finds all her powers for good gone and only the dark stain remaining. And the locals nearby definitely want to eliminate that stain, or threat as they see it knowing only the lies that have been told. The book works this well by putting Gabrielle into good use with her storyteller abilities to try and alter things and you get this really great sense of the original show here in a way, knowing how the resolve works and the way reality becomes altered by it, which is very fun to watch play out. The subplot moving within it focuses on Discord to a good degree as there’s a minor reflection of her through the witch in how times are changing and a god of war won’t be of the same use as time marches forward. That, combined with the way Discord is easing on the tension with Xena and Gabrielle over it, helps to showcase her growth in the small but important ways.
In Summary:
Xena continues to be a pretty fun series overall and this opening arc involving Discord is working the character nicely to get her to “modernize” a bit compared to how she was before she was de-powered. It’s a fairly familiar storyline to work with – even within this property – but Ayala is working it well with good character interactions and Perez is providing some beautiful artwork for it with the layouts and character designs. This story is largely standalone with what it’s doing but it nudges forward the character side nicely as well, making for an enjoyable read that leaves me wanting more.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 15+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: July 10th, 2019
MSRP: $3.99
