Review: Memorial #3

On a rocky cliff high above a range of jagged, razor sharprocks overlooking a thundering sea, Dustin the Mighty Blade of the West battledme in a duel that shook Zeus from his bed in the penthouse of Olympus.  Although we fought to a stalemate,Dustin the Mighty Blade of the West awarded me with the permission to review one ofthe most entertaining books to come out in some time.

And Memorial #2 was worth my skills.  So I wanted to see ifissue #3 delivers, as well.

It didn't.

After listening to the shadow boy, Em and Schroedinger fledHook by jumping over the candlestick and landing in a desert environment thatis the home of Babylon.  The IvoryTower holds little answers for her. 

Pinocchio interrogates the Key Maker.  The old man revels in knowing Em’s trueidentity while keeping the wooden boy and the rest of us in suspense.

When things seem to settle, Smoke and some other shadowscome to abduct Em.

Using her key, she manages to free herself from Smoke.  But she’s not out of danger becauseshe’s stuck in the Everlands.  Ayoung man appears and asks Em for rescue.

I was enamored with the first two issues of this series fortheir fairy tale environments that were wonders and interesting.  This book spends so much time in theIvory Tower with the confrontation between Babylon and the Shadows that Iwondered if I was missing pages from the book.  To say that the story is one-dimensional in comparison tothe other two books is an understatement.

This is still a good comic.  Compared to other book’s this issue’s score of 2 would be a3 or four for other books.  Butwhen one sets the bar so high with a first issue, one should deliver the samequality in subsequent books.

Part of my problem was that the Ivory Tower served little purposein this chapter.  Nothing wasgained, and nothing was lost.  Itwas merely background for the confrontation between Em and Smoke.  Granted, this was the set-up for afight between the Shadows and the blind monks of the Ivory Tower.  But it didn’t come off as fun as itsounds.

And Roberson seems to be browbeating us with mystery: TheKeymaker laughs that he knows Em’s identity.  And Babylon hints that he has a mysterious and powerfulmother.  But the crux of this issuefelt like a big ‘fuck you--we know something you don’t and will keep you in thedark instead of peaking interest with some dramatic irony’.

I know that this is one of those story developing issuesthat all comics need to develop character, but that’s not a luxury to take withreaders who are paying $4 a book and may not sustain interest if the storybecomes too enigmatic.

I will champion this book because it has been a greatdiversion from the mask and cape comics that dominate the racks.  But I will have a hard time defendingit if there’s another hiccup in storytelling like issue #3.

Score: 2/5

IDW Comics

$3.99

Release Date: 2/8/12

Writer: Chris Roberson

Art: Rich Ellis

Colors: Grace Allison

Letters: Shawn Lee