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Publisher: Top Cow
Writer: Rob Levin & Bryan Edward Hill
Artist: Alessandro Vitti & Facundo Percio
Cover: Tommy Lee Edwards

*Minor Spoilers*

“Pandora’s Box pt 3”: The search for Pandora’s Box has just been kicked up a notch and all parties involved are feeling the pressure! Last issue Glori offered Finn ten million dollars for his Artifact (the Glacier Stone), and he accepted after seeing a woman reanimate a dead guy for information. I’m pretty sure that’s the point where he realized things are getting a bit crazy. During a phone call between the two going over specifics of the deal, Glori’s jeep is attacked by members of Elias Legion’s cult, The Disciples of Adam. From the explosion emerges Glori in her dragon form, and let’s just say that a face full of dragon fire trumps a rocket launcher and bullets.

After being led to a village in Tunisia by the Compass of Ancients, Elias and his followers are closer to finding Pandora’s Box, and are killing everyone to get the information they need. So to drive the point home, Elias tells the village leader that he will kill every child in front of him if he is not told the location of Pandora’s Box! The leader succumbs to Elias’ demands and gives him the location and instructions on how to get there. Unfortunately for the cult leader, all he finds is an empty box; so a pissed off Elias has the village burned to the ground and everyone killed. Glori shows up some time after, and seconds later Finn shows up behind her and sees the dead children and fire- he assumes it’s her handy work. So the deal is off and Finn is all iced up and ready to throw down!

Aside from showing you the benefit of hands-free cell phone calls while driving, Alessandro Vitti and Facundo Percio display some great looking work, but it’s the sequence after that really stands out. Glori’s transformation to the dragon and then the complete and severe beatdown given to the two zealots was just visceral greatness!  Plus the added yellow lighting effect along Glori’s horns and face just made it pop even more, and kept the issue from being a pretty standard piece. The two different styles flow well together, and where Vitti has a cleaner look, Percio’s work gives the major players that ‘worn’ appearance that adds character and helps keep the panel interesting.

When it comes to Levine and Hill’s story, what more can I say?  We’re halfway through, and despite the long gap between issues, the quality that’s been delivered is definitely worth the wait. They have been successfully building these characters and making them viable players in the Top Cow sandbox. Each one has taken a different route with the revelation of their destiny’s, and Levine and Hill are capitalizing on that; giving us something more than just a giant ice monster and dragon going at it. And where we have Glori and Finn, who are in that grey area most of the time, the villain is clearly defined in Elias as he is one vicious bastard. What makes him dangerous is that he’s very smart, calm, and in control. Add to it that he leads a cult determined to remake the world using one of the most dangerous of the Artifacts on the planet, and he has the means to accomplish finding and using it. Levine and Hill did a great job establishing all of this in the first issue, and have been on point ever since.

One more great thing about Broken Trinity: Pandora’s Box is that you’re not forced to buy this series thinking you’ll miss out on some huge plot point from the Artifacts story.  It’s a great companion piece and has laid some of the ground work for Artifacts, but has a flavor all it’s own which helps make it stand out and be a worthwhile read! Look for it in stores next Thursday (September 9th)!

‘Till next time!

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Infinite Speech
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