What if Heaven was nothing like you were told? Would you lose your mind? What if you got a sword and were told you had to fight evil and you had special powers?
We check out the third installment of the series to answer the question, is it good?
Reborn #3 (Image Comics)
So what’s it about? The summary reads:
MILLAR & CAPULLO’s epic sci-fifantasy story continues. Bonnie is captured by Dark Lands gangsters during her quest to find her missing husband—gangsters who will deliver her to evil General Frost and his boss, Lord Golgotha. But just as all hope seems lost, Bonnie’s warrior powers start kicking in.
Why does this book matter?
If the premise doesn’t sell you, the art surely will. Greg Capullo has captured the sheer awesome nature of this brand new world with an incredible amount of various creatures and vistas.
Fine, you have my attention. What’s good about it?
What a time to be alive! I mean dead.
This issue continues to open up the world as creatures and evil areas are shown with vivid detail from Capullo. Why there are flying elephants is beyond me, but maybe writer Mark Millar is giving us a wink with a Dumbo reference. So far, there’s a lot of variance and delicious visuals to consume making a case for a TV show or movie for this series. One might argue the sheer number of ideas in play makes this too hard to pin down, but it’s so inventive it’s easy to enjoy.
Capullo continues to work wonders with the pencils with good colors from FCO Plascencia and inks by Jonathan Glapion. This book looks like a million bucks no matter the panel or page. The monsters are well rendered and you can tell Capullo put a lot of time into designing the beasts. There’s a rather cool blur effect used in the issue as well which seems to be hinting at a budding power of the protagonist and it has a magical sort of feel that works. The vehicle in this issue is slick as hell too and if you are a fan of the Podracers in Star Wars: Episode I — Reborn #3 will have you gasping in excitement.
It can’t be perfect can it?
Aside from a short tour of different areas in the world there are still very few explanations to be had here. Why they are fighting and what powers our protagonist has still remain to be seen; I’m having a hard time caring about their adventure because there’s no explanation as to what the stakes are if they lose or what they’re fighting for. Also, what happens if you die in heaven? Do you go somewhere else? Each issue seems to offer new visual delights, but no answers.
As new areas are revealed there’s also a growing problem of where anything is located. We had one panel conveying the evil area was off in the distance, but I’m starting to scratch my head as to how far they’ve traveled at all. It’s a problem most fantasies solve with a map and this series could use a good one!
It hasn’t been an issue for quite a while in comics for the last year, but the breasts on our protagonist are sometimes outrageously big. Maybe it’s more of an issue since she’s hanging with her dad throughout this issue, but she’s strangely sexualized in scenes that just don’t need it.
Give us more details!
Is It Good?
Reborn is an intoxicating visual feast lovers of fantasy must read. This issue continues to show new areas which only improves on the imagination involved here. Unfortunately there isn’t enough revealed to care all that much and it’s becoming harder each issue to find a reason to care outside of the art and solid premise. Here’s hoping we get some answers next issue!
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