Meridian #29

A little bit more than 24 hours until departure. Well, actually more like 18 hours until we depart our hotel. Three more comics in the to-read stack after this one, which I almost certainly bought just for the absolutely awesome cover.

Title: Meridian
Issue: #29
Publisher: Crossgen
Date: November, 2002
Writer: Barbara Kesel
Penciler: Steve McNiven
Inker: Tom Simmons
Colorist: Morry Hollowell
Letterer: Troy Peteri
Cover: Steve McNiven, Tom Simmons, Morry Hollowell

I reviewed issue #4 recently, with heir-in-exile Sephie trying to reclaim rulership of her floating island home. By the time we get to this issue, Sephie has at least partially solidified her position of power and is distracting herself with a logbook left by her parents as she tries to deal with the political dance of rulership.

As a result, almost this entire issue is a flashback with bits of narration by Sephie for framing. The story is visually awesome, and introduces a particularly standout character in glider-riding, cutlass-wielding General Coraqam.

It was also a bit on the crowded side with lots of political intrique, character interaction, and an assassination attempt. The visuals are beautiful throughout (and as I mentioned above, the cover is amazing), but this was not the most accessible issue for a newbie to the series.

Rating: 7/10

Meridian #4

Continuing through the stack of comics I originally brought to Vietnam. Eight to go after this one. Most of these are from convention bargain bins back in the US

Title: Meridian
Issue: #4
Publisher: Crossgen
Date: October, 2000
Writer: Barbara Kesel
Penciler: Joshua Middleton, Bart Sears
Inker: Dexter Vines, Andy Smith
Colorist: Michael Atiyeh
Letterer: Dave Lanphear

When her sky-island nation is invaded, Sephie, the new Minister of Meridian, escapes from the captivity of her uncle and races back to help fight for her island home. Meanwhile on Meridian, a small group is organizing to resist the invasion.

The visuals of the floating-island world are gorgeous, and I loved the action sequences involving the flying sailcraft that are the world's main mode of transportation. The story is tightly plotted but still complex, and I was able to get a good sense of all the characters who appeared in this issue, in spite of jumping into the story in issue #4. I also loved the awesome and classic cliffhanger ending.

Backup story is part of a series called The First, and it didn't really do much for me. It involved two characters calling forth some sort of  grave-element-like creature. Some other things went on, but not enough to catch my interest.

Main story totally rocked, however, and I note that I have one other issue of this series in my to-read stack, and it's #19, and I really find myself wishing it was #5. Might have to seek out more of this story when I get back to the US.

Rating: 7.5/10

Sigil #6

Here's another random book from the backlog.

Title: Sigil
Issue: #6
Publisher: Crossgen
Date: December, 2000
Writer: Barbara Kesel
Penciler: Steve McNiven
Inker: Batt, Jordi Ensign
Colorist: JD Smith
Letterer: Dave Lanphear
Cover: Steve McNiven, Ray Lai, Wil Quintana

I went into this one with low expectations. The art looked a bit too Image-
influenced and the story, a space opera featuring a hero with a mysterious sigil branded on his chest that gives him superpowers, appeared to be a jumbled mess based on the "story so far" segment at the beginning of the book.

But once we got past a somewhat awkward initial fight scene in a spaceship hangar deck, the story started to flow pretty nicely. There was a lot going on here, but it generally made sense, and did a nice job of building suspense as the various characters were brought together so that Sam (the sigil-guy; short for Samandahl actually) can get to face a bad guy with the unfortunate name of Loser in a climactic arena fight.

I particularly liked the character of Zanniati, the runaway wife of another bad guy. She had a nice kind of cool confidence about her that worked well in the story. Former guardsman JeMerik was also fun, but he is annoying close to Sam in looks, and in a book this complicated, and potential character confusion is detrimental.

Still, this had a fun Star Wars kind of feel to it, with quick plot twists and frequent action scenes.

Much better than expected.

Rating: 7/10