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Publisher: Top Cow
Writer: Ron Marz
Artist: Stjepan Sejic
Cover: Stjepan Sejic

“Illumination pt 2”: Again we start the story off in Hell seeing what Sabine’s lackeys are up to.  And right now all they seek is passage on the Conductor’s train, which is a little easier said than done as one of the group is killed during the attempt.  Once aboard, the Angelus Warriors seek a deal with the Conductor, who seems to have no real loyalty to his master, so he silently agrees to take them to the lower levels so they can reach their goal and retrieve what Sabine wants.

Meanwhile, Sabine is giving Dani the grand tour of her realm while explaining her duties as the new Angelus.  While Dani listens she notices a creature that closely resembles the beast that attacked her on Earth, and Sabine explains that it is a Chimera and that they serve the Angelus Warriors.  Problem with that is, when Dani asked her in Angelus #1 Sabine played ignorant, but she cleans it up again by saying that she probably misunderstood Dani and that the Chimera that attacked her must have been a wild one that was just drawn to the power of the Angelus (yeah, because that happens often!).  But the real kick in the chest comes when Sabine shows Dani the corpse of a former bearer of the Darkness, and when asked how she (Dani) will lead the Angelus Warriors to victory over their eternal enemy, she makes the comment that Jakie (Current Darkness bearer) is a friend.  The other Angelus Warriors are taken aback and see her as unfit to be the Angelus, but Dani quickly turns things around with the help of Sabine.  As their talk continues, Sabine asks if Dani values the realm of the Light over Man’s world, and Dani remembers that she left Finch alone and has to get back.  And she does so just in time, as Finch is the target of two men who want to do more than show her the sights of New Orleans.  After dispersing the two unlucky fools, we leave New Orleans for Chicago and come to the bearer of the Darkness himself: Jackie Estacado, at a round table with his crew as one of his darklings whispers something in his ear.  You can pretty much guess where the next issue is headed!

I’m going to go on record and say that the only thing that bothers me about this series is Finch.  To me she comes off as co-dependent, and I’m not very fond of those types of people.  She’s basically thrown herself at Dani since day one, and is pretty much forcing this entire “relationship” on her.  At this point in Dani’s life it could either go very bad or decent at best.  Okay, with that done, Marz continues to maintain a good story and makes it easier for those who aren’t too familiar with the Angelus to feel comfortable reading this issue.  And I’m sure those more versed in Angelus lore than myself still find the story a far cry from the former host Celestine, and not too repetitive.  Marz also handles Sabine’s manipulation of Dani and her hidden desire to become the Angelus very well, though at times it seems as if Dani is just too dense to get it.  The Chimera conversation immediately comes to mind, but I’m willing to follow through with the story to see how it all ends.

What can you say about Sejic’s art that hasn’t been said already?  As a whole, the entire book is great to just look at, even though some pages stand out more than others.  Aside from a couple of panels, the Kingdom of Light sequence doesn’t hold up to the rest of the book, though the best shot is a two-page spread of the Darkness fighting the Angelus Warriors…wow!

A bit of what I consider a bonus is the bit of  background we get on the Conductor by Bryan Rountree, an insightful look at a character that was only on two pages of the book.

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