Review – Reborn #3 (Image Comics)

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Publisher: Image Comics
Writer: Mark Millar
Artist: Greg Capullo
Release Date: 14th December, 2016

When do you think the last time Mark Millar pitched an idea that didn’t get picked up? I mean, the guy pretty much has a Midas touch when it comes to the medium of sequential art periodicals. I’m sure that the guy could guild a turd and still sell it as art. Not that he’s done anything like that in recent memory, everything has been of a particularly high quality. Of course, some issues do dip below the gold standard, for instance Huck #6 slipped to a steady 3.5. Far from a flop, but not stellar.

So, with that firmly in mind let’s have a look at Reborn. The blurb for issue goes along the lines of “Where do you go when you die? Not heaven or hell; somewhere else. Somewhere you have to fight to survive. Somewhere the people from the past are waiting for you—the good and the bad.”

So where do people go? I’ll tell you, a place of awesome imagination, poignant reunions and surprising adversaries. Issues one and two explore death and renewal, with Bonnie being introduced to the idea that she is the great saviour, the one who will save the world.

Issue three is of a more standard action adventure bent (If that’s at all possible in a high-tech fantasy world). Bonnie and her father are captured, escape, learn lessons, get tricked… Nothing particularly unexpected here as the tale deftly moves from one peril to the next, beautifully illustrated by a master of the craft Greg Capullo. I have been a huge fan of his work since he cut his mainstream teeth on Quasar in 1991. His work here delightfully portrays an epic and unusual world of flying elephants and enormous lion headed dragons. Couple that with his dynamic figure, and expressive facial work and you have an artist properly at the top of his game. It’s all sooooo pretty.

This issue builds upon the amazing foundations laid in the first two issues, with their almost perfect mix of action and touching characterisation. It continues to grow the world and the characters who inhabit it, but it’s a fingertip away from the brilliance of what went before.

Buy this book, because Reborn is going to be one of those comic books that you’ll wish you were into from the very beginning.

Rating: 4.5/5.

PREVIEW ARTWORK
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