Artifacts #11
Publisher: Top Cow
Writer: Ron Marz
Artist: Jeremy Huan
Cover: John Tyler Christopher
All of the players have been assembled and the lies have been exposed, as Marz and Huan crank it up a notch in one of the best events to hit comics this year. The Curator has almost everything he needs to bring about the end and usher in the beginning of his former universe. Sara and Jackie’s daughter is the key to everything, but as they fight for her freedom their allies are rallying together to make that final push to victory.
Artifacts has been going on for the better part of the year, and yet this event still feels as fun and exciting as when it began. Every character has been vital in one way or another, and not just thrown in for the sake of this being an event. Probably because none of them are forced to be included just to sell a bunch of tie-ins to a story that is standing quite strong on its own. Marz’s revelation of the main bad guy was a great shot in the arm as it was a character he introduced to us about seven years ago. Who would have thought that something this cool would be built around him and be this pivotal in the Top Cow Universe. The pacing and action are still done quite well, and this is just some damn good storytelling when it’s all said and done. Though that Finnegan vs. Nottingham fight didn’t end the way I wanted it to, it was still a great sequence to watch.
Huan continues doing a solid job with his chapter of Artifacts, as I feel like this issue is one of his strongest ones. No great, dazzling landscapes in these pages, but I liked how he broke up the panels during the discussion between The Curator and Sara. When an artist does something like that to enhance a basic conversation, it’s always a nice touch to the overall feel of what’s going on. Jackie’s rampage was also some great work that impressed, and it’s always cool to see a limb being severed. I still have issues with the overall style at times, but that’s more of a personal preference if anything.
There are two more issues left until the conclusion of this event before the series goes into being an ongoing title, and there’s so much that could happen. So we can’t really be too sure of what Marz is going to do by issue thirteen. One thing that’s for sure is that Artifacts harkins back to the day when self contained events were exceptionally great stories that reinforced why you read comics in the first place!
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