As someone who is a fan of myth, it was great to see a new take on a story I recently became familiar with, but Legend of Isis: Twilight of the Gods is more a story for the mind, not the eyes.
I am personally a fan of traditional comic book art, so it was a bit of a letdown not to get that. However, being open-minded, I was not going to let that influence my overall opinion of the comic. Unfortunately though, the physical flaws went beyond the style. I often found myself fixated on certain panels, or going back just because I could not really figure out what they were. And since it was hard to make out certain details, the next panel of action wouldn’t make much sense. The biggest repeat offenders were over usage of extreme close ups on certain actions that turned those panels into guessing games of what you were seeing.
The Legend of Isis also covered 4 chapters, and over those 4 chapters it was obvious that were changes in artists, but that wasn’t even the problem because as it was very obvious in the first chapter, the artist would change the appearance of the character from panel to panel. The depiction of Isis was also a little too pornographic for my taste. I am not one to throw a fit about the surreal depiction of women’s bodies that is popular in the comic world, but this was beyond on that. Even a shot or two of a later introduced character, Black Scorpion, I thought was a bit lewd. The physical aspect of the comic did take an upward turn in my personal opinion when the style made a drastic change in chapter 4; I just preferred the style a lot more.
Now, onto the PROS!
The story was a bit complex. It starts off with a battle between Isis and Apophis, a crazy looking creature that I believe is the God of Darkness. Isis apparently dies, after that the scenes really jump all over the place. For instance, the next scene takes us to Antarctica with more evil God things, then we are put in a diner where couple Jessica and Scott are having lunch. It gets crazy and then we find out that Jessica is really Isis, but you are feeling “isn’t Isis dead?” Then, chapter 2 starts and Isis is waking up in the Underworld. There’s simply so much to take in that you, as a reader, feel like you got whiplash. It’s not necessarily a bad thing because I just kept reading because I was intrigued to figure it all out, and it does come to make sense. It was also really cool because there was an explanation for the fighting going on based around the myth that made the myth itself more fascinating to think about in a way that is not provided in your college history class.
Most of the dialogue is good, I just had a problem with some from Apophis. As a writer, I have always been told basically to never write the same thing twice. Even if you are saying the same thing, say it differently. Well…Apophis had this thing about saying “To Die!” and oh-my-freakin’- god he must of said it 10 times…times a million…plus two…and then some. It was almost frustrating how many times he said it, but whatever. He is evil I’m supposed to hate him anyways.
The rest of storytelling is pretty point blank, although the writer or artist fit in this one panel where an over-the-top joke was made that was a good break from the drama that played throughout the comic. The story is incredibly fast paced; it’s a lot to take in so reading all 4 chapters made everything a lot more satisfying. There is more to come based off the ending, and I am excited to find out what that is.
Something about this comic after glancing at it just seemed like something that might be passed up, I encourage you not to. I thought it was fun to read and it is definitely worth giving a shot.
