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Publisher: Top Cow
Writer(s): Rob Levin & Bryan Edward Hill
Artist: Alessandro Vitti
Cover: Eric Basaldua

Minor Spoilers!

“Pandora’s Box pt 2”: It’s been a long minute since the last issue was released so I was pretty excited to continue the story after impatiently waiting for so long.  Broken Trinity: Pandora’s Box #2 does provide a decent recap page to get you right back in the swing of things between Finn and Glorianna, as these two who are destined to kill each other are also faced with a common enemy that wants them both dead.

Finn and Glorianna are having a little talk and she’s basically filling in a lot of the gaps for Finn about the cult that’s trying to kill them.  She also tells him about the Obsidian Stone or as it’s known by its more common name: Pandora’s Box. What they want to use it for right before offering him ten million for his own artifact, and of course he says no but she gives him her card and leaves. But before leaving she warns him to stay out of her way and to leave the cult leader Elias to her.  Kenshin and Finn go to the church where Elias slaughtered many innocents (last issue) to get a hold of the compass that will lead him to the location of Pandora’s Box, but the two are ambushed by a sniper. Around the same time Glorianna is following a lead in Moscow as well as trying to nail down the location of Elias and the compass.

Who would have thought that an errand boy (Finn) for Jackie Estacado (Darkness) would be at the forefront of such a pivotal story arc, and an unknown (at the time) Glorianna would make an interesting and convincing enemy for him. The focus of this issue is basically on the Artifact holders trying to piece together several clues to catch up to Elias who is more than a few steps ahead of his enemies at this point.  The action is pretty good but it’s more story driven as we find out a bit more about these objects that everyone is coveting and willing to die and kill for.

Again, Alessandro’s visuals are pretty good, though some pages just aren’t at the same level as others. I will say that the sniper sequence was pretty brutal and one of my favorites in the book.  We are only treated to a glimpse here and there of Finn and Glorianna displaying their powers, which was a bit of a let down for me, but hey there’s more issues to come so I can wait to see the dragon and ice monster go at it. I’m just hoping that the wait won’t be as long between issues as the series continues because two months is pretty long to a greedy comic fan!

Last issue had a character index after the story, however this one has a letter to the fans from Bryan. It connects to the premise of Pandora’s Box as he voices his opinion on the differences between faith and belief.  I’d recommend taking a minute or two and giving it a read, then take some time to think about the question he poses to the reader.

Rob and Bryan are developing Finn and Glori quite well, and though they are not well known characters and don’t have the status of say Darkness or Witchblade, there is no doubt in my mind that after all of this is said and done they will have moved up a few notches.  I’d suggest checking this out not only to get yourself acquainted with the characters before Artifacts starts this summer, but just because the story itself is worth it alone.

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