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Artifacts #8
Publisher: Top Cow
Writer:Ron Marz
Artist: Whilce Portacio
Cover: John Christopher Tyler

As the second chapter of Artifacts comes to a close the Aphrodite army brings a world of hurt to the remaining Artifact bearers, Hunter-Killer, and the Cyberforce teams. Their sheer numbers along with Glorianna Silver’s power overwhelm the heroes and force a new course of action. Tilly has discovered the location of the 13th Artifact bearer but she and Tom Judge need to leave immediately with the assistance of the Angelus. When your team is getting their butts kicked it sucks when three of your number suddenly vanish, so you can pretty much guess how this fight ends for the good guys.

The last four issues have been filled with spectacular fights worthy of the big screen and it’s going to be tough to top what we’ve already seen. Marz has also kept the story focused and is handling this huge cast of characters better than expected. Every single person has a part to play and he’s not writing a single one of them out of character just to fit some plot point. This constant struggle for the good guys to try to find a way to win while ignorant to what is going on is played out very well. Add to that Sara and Jackie’s despair over their missing daughter and still not knowing why she was taken adds to the drama and intensity of this tale.

Visually the book has been great to look at and Portacio definitely took this chapter to it’s next level. The action was big, brutal, and had everything you would like to see in these types of fights. Cyborgs getting ripped to shreds, characters in cool poses, and Heatwave getting his face shot off. That last part may just be a personal favorite because that’s one character I’ve never been too fond of. The next artist for the series is Jeremy Haun and he’s got a pretty high bar to reach since Broussard and Portacio kicked ass on the first two chapters.

There was a time when events took place in their own titles and didn’t spin off into a plethora of corny ass tie ins. Marz and the artists have taken Artifacts back to the fundamentals with great story telling and eye melting artwork that can stand on it’s own. For this, my wallet is very thankful and I’m looking forward to the final chapter of the event and seeing Dale Keown’s artwork for the last issue!

Infinite Speech
infinitespeech@comicattack.net