Zenescope Entertainment 2017
Written by Joe Brusha
Illustrated by Renato Rei
Coloured by Grostieta & Jorge Cortes
Lettered by Fabio Amelia
The mysterious Order of Tarot has emerged from the shadows with its sights set on ruling the Realms of Power. With the courts of Swords, Cups, Wands, and Pentacles at his command, the Emperor is ready to launch his assault on the Grimm Universe. And the only thing that stands in his way is a wildcard named Talisman.
So when did Cindy become a Queen in the Order of Tarot? I mean she’s a lot of things and definitely a psychotic, dangerous and vicious with a sword but I’m so confused by her presence here. While a showdown with Cindy and Nataliya would have been utterly delightful I feel like the fight was somehow watered down, since when is Cindy so damn quiet? The whole fight feels like it was gratuitous and not really having any meaning. We could debate the outcome which would have come regardless of whatever the trial was going to be.
On a side note if you are going to show Nataliya with something in her hand hidden behind her butt then it be consistent when we see her standing there facing everyone.
So where is Talisman that time moves differently from where Nataliya is? Someone has to be somewhere that time works differently or because there is no way that the Empress was going to allow weeks to pass before seeing her in this arena on trial. Also it’s weeks as stated that Talisman has been trying to find his inner light so can someone explain how that manges to be. Unless the time thing can sync up somehow I have a hard time believing anything going on here. I do like that Shimmer finds Talisman important and I'm going to say attractive however.
Hmm so the Court of Wands is making a deal with the Queen of Cups and sex is the only way to seal the deal. Pfft that’s how I feel about that. There are a lot of little cutaways to show us what’s going on with different people. This seems utterly random and by the time we get back to a previous part of the story it feels like weeks have passed. Which leads us to the meeting dealing with Nataliya and what happened in the arena.
Alright so the emperor and his visage is freaking great and the Morrigan kind of surprises me as in most mythology the Morrigan is a woman and yet the death mask fits nicely. On the whole the interior artwork is really good and I like the use of backgrounds and when we see them used so well it really expands the story and makes it more interesting. The use of page layouts with their angles and perspective show a nice eye for storytelling here.
See now how long did it take Nataliya to find Talisman? I ask because suddenly he’s walking the streets alone when she finds him and that doesn’t feel right either. It would’ve been better had she found him at the Lights secret liar and the whole discussion of her loyalty and her connection or bond with Talisman proven to be as strong as she claims. There are subtle things that could’ve been done that would have made this a much stronger more cohesive and believable story and Joe doesn’t seem to be in any rush to learn them.
I think the story concept and premise are great and this is a nice way to expand the roles of both of these characters while introducing us to new forces within the Zenescope Universe. While Mystere and Talisman had potential for an interesting partnership adding Nataliya to the mix ups the interest and intrigue factor exponentially. This isn’t extraordinary but it isn’t horrid either it’s firmly middle of the road storytelling with some interesting interior artwork, though lets get further away from the slutty woman wear shall we.