The series draws to a close far too quickly.
Creative Staff:
Story: Vita Ayala
Art: Olympia Sweetman, Vasco Georgiev
Colors: Rebecca Nalty
Letterer: Ariana Maher
What They Say:
Just as Xena’s World Tour brings her back home to Greece, she and her travel companions will confront the might Zeus himself on MOUNT OLYMPUS! By VITA AYALA (Shuri, Black Panther) and OLYMPIA SWEETMAN!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
And just like that, it’s been six issues. I had no clue that I’d be invested in a new Xena series this year since I’ve mostly avoided the various comics over the years but Vita Ayala put together a very fun series that captured the tone and spirit of the show but with the advances that were needed, notably in the relationship between Xena and Gabrielle. With this final issue, Olympia Sweetman takes over as the main artist for it with Vasco Georgiev still on board but it definitely feels a bit different in style and expressiveness so that it’s not like what we had before. You can shake this off fairly quickly but it’s always a bit disappointing when you don’t have completely consistent artwork across a series. And Georgiev had definitely gotten the look down great with Rebecca Nalty’s color work.
The finale moves mostly as expected but with the execution that has made it a lot of fun to read. The trio have made their way back to Greece and while Discord isn’t thrilled, Gabby is practically kissing the dirt to be back on familiar ground. It’s comical and it frustrates Discord but it shows the bond that they’ve all shared since the story started. Even more so because while Discord is nervous about climbing Mount Olympus to confront Zeus she’s even more surprised that the other two are coming with her. She figured she’d be ditched at this point but they’re rallying with her on all of this and the strong support does a lot of good when it comes to Discord’s mindset. You get it made clear that she didn’t have a lot for a long time and seeing her get it here definitely is a delight. Much like her time going through the labyrinth in order to get to the main hall as we see her old friend in the minotaur after dealing with a clamor of harpies.
There’s a lot to like in the final confrontation as Discord gets to settle things a bit with both Ares and Aphrodite over what happened and what they’ve done since then to try and help. The reality is that this is still very much Zeus’ show and he’s a real ass of a head of all of this and that just makes things difficult. The council that’s called is laid out well and the right kind of tales are told but we also get it made clear who really orchestrated things so that it all went wrong at the very start. That helps to put things right for Discord as even though she did make poor choices she was manipulated by one of their own into doing it. It’s a nice little way to wrap everything up with Xena providing the extra nudge. And, hell, the book gives us a couple of beautiful pages with just Xena and Gabby where they’re so adorably lovey-dovey that I wish we had a book just of that.
In Summary:
The end of this series has me hoping it did well enough that another miniseries or a few specials are in the works so I can get more of this character. And hopefully with this particular team as well, though I’d love to see other takes as well. Ayala and Georgiev delivered a great book throughout the run and it ends well here with the expected conclusion points. But the journey itself was strong and the ending has its delightful moments throughout as well so that it’s earned everything that it’s done. I wouldn’t have expected to be enthused about a Xena series at this point in time since I was only a casual viewer at best back in the day but this has made me really happy with the character and future takes on it as well.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 15+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: September 18th, 2019
MSRP: $3.99
