SPOILERS: Review: Aphrodite IX #5 - Lyesmith
Aphrodite IX # 5 from Top Cow
Writer: Matt Hawkins (@TopCowMatt)
Cover & Art: Stjepan Sejic (@stjepansejic)
I want to start off by saying this is another one of my gushing reviews for Top Cow. I love this character, I love this series, and I know you guys have to get tired of hearing me say it, but I love Top Cow comics.
I'd like to take a second and say that you can read the first issue of Aphrodite IX for FREE. You can get it from the Top Cow website right here.
(http://topcow.com/moos/43-latest-moos/751-aphrodite-ix-1-read-now)
One more thing before we get to the review. Aphrodite IX writer and creator Matt Hawkins (@TopCowMatt) is going to be coming to a local comic book and gaming convention in Tulsa, Ok, which I intend to be at. I /hope/ to be able to grab Matt's hear for a moment to ask him three or four questions for the blog. If there anything you'd like asked, please drop a comment here, let us know on twitter (#Geekin_Podcast) or on the facebook fanpage (www.facebook.com/geekinpodcast)
This issue picks up moments after issue 4. Aphrodite's been used to kill some of Marcus'(leader of The Gen) most closest and dearest loved ones after being taken in my The Gen. Distracted by grief and confusion, Marcus didn't react to the attack from in time, now they've lost all their dragons and the enemy is literately at their doorstep.
Free of the control that caused her to murder Marcus' family and fiance', Aphrodite, now remember her name as April, leaps into battle against the cybernetically-enhanced soldiers from Speros. Hawkins is able to throw in faith, without letting it turn into fanaticism and push it over into the negative side of religion. It shows further contrast between Genesis and Speros as Marcus' faith and belief that God is on his side helps him overcome his feelings and rally his people together to bring a much-needed win for The Gen.
While the romantic connection between Marcus and Aphrodite seems to disperse as Burch's (Aphrodite's weasely handler who takes control of her mind and forces her to kill) control over her does, you can't help but be a little sad to find out that the connection between Burch and Aphrodite will heal itself, while her potential, and likely fabricated, feelings for Marcus' won't.
A suicide run from Aphrodite, crashing one of the smaller Speros ships into the much larger flagship brings the fight to an uproarious end. Injured and unconscious, Marcus' brings her back to Genesis to heal her, despite calls for her execution for the murder of Marcus' family and leading the people of Speros to Genesis anyway. Instead of letting her be executed, Marcus' sneaks her out of the city and lets her go. Mikhail, the father of Marcus' fiance' Lina, instructs what appears to be mercenaries to find Aphrodite, leaving us eager to see this new group in action. The last pages of the book show Aphrodite outside the city, being found by not only Valr'x, one of the remaining dragons, but also what appears to be a group lead by Aphrodite XV. So now we've got Aphrodite V in Cyberforce and TWO more Aphrodites (Aphroditi? Aphrodities? What's the plural of Aphrodite?) in this book. It's an Aphroditi-palooza over here at Top Cow! How can you not love that???
So I'm going to leave you two things. One, I'm going to BEG you to pick up this series. The art is amazing (Check out his other stuff at http://nebezial.deviantart.com/ - he's got some really cool fanart he's done up for free). But then again, everything Sejic does is amazeballs. It's redonkulous how good this guy is.
Secondly. I'm going to leave you a shit-ton of Aphrodite IX eyecandy for your faceholes.
http://markovah.deviantart.com/
Kenneth Rocafort
http://meagan-marie.deviantart.com/
Ah, this is more like it. I had not heard of this book before. The art samples are amazing.
ReplyDeleteHow is it for someone just jumping into this book? What's the learning curve?
Top Cow has recently rebooted both this and Cyberforce, which it's 6th issue just came out. I'd definitely recommend getting the previous 4 issues, but you /at least/ want to read the first one, which is free, of course. Picking this up alone, you might be a bit lost, but I think if you started here, the up-coming story would still make a lot of sense. They touch on everything that's happened before here, so, especially getting the first issue, I think you'd be okay moving forward from this issue.
ReplyDeleteGreat review. Seems like something I would be into. I'll have to check it out.
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