Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Writer: Chris Sebela
Penciller: Harvey Tolibao, Keith Champagne
Release Date: 5th November 2014

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With a new artist on board, this issue proudly declares itself “Starting Point for new readers” splashed across the header. And it’s certainly an interesting point into the world of Eliza, giving us plenty of scope for understanding her and her companions.

Since Chris Sebela’s been left to his own devices on the writing side of things, I’ve had my reservations. There’s a couple of genuinely funny moments here that serve as a nice contrast to the general unrelenting grimness of Eliza’s usual demon-hunting antics. Turning her into some kind of cloaked crusader, a relatively conventional crime-fighter, seems at odds with the way she has been devised; I’m slightly wary of the path he’s taking her down, so we’ll see if it works. Certainly the characteristic ultra-violence leads to a bit of soul-searching when used on mere mortals – however, the scripting seems a little contrived.

As for the new art, well, it’s a bit of a departure from what we’ve had so far on the reboot. It’s more washed out, with colours in more deco tones than noir, which is satisfying and fits nicely; there’s some great panels that bleed to the edge of the pages, too.

I’m going to get distracted by boobs, however. It’s rare to find a super-femme who’s not pneumatic. Whilst efforts have been made to at least apply some laws of physics to her body shape, it does rather seem as if she’s packing a pair of airbags also. A little frustrating, and more so is the midrift that goes from being defined to positively skeletal in places.

It’s a fairly okay entry point, but as a dedicated fan I was looking for something more not only for me, but to bring others into a world that I adore, ultimately.

Rating: 3/5.

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The Writer of this piece was: Sam Graven
You can follow Sam on Twitter

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