Sigil #4 Review
The first round of Marvel’s re-imagining of the Crossgen universe comes to an end with Sigil #4. Will young Samantha Rey learn her true power and defeat Captain October, the very man who killed her mother?
Sigil #4
The crew of the El Cazador escaped inland on an island that’s playing home to a great and powerful artifact hidden by Sam’s mom. October, pursuing both the treasure and the El Cazador, takes his ship, the Red Harvest, inland using his power from his sigil. All out war breaks out eventually leading to October and Sam going toe-to-toe. Sam stumbles upon the artifact, and uses her powers to jump from location to location to throw October off the path. After revisiting her mother’s funeral, she learns the trigger phase. When she goes back up against October, she speaks the phrase and unleashes the living weapon inside the artifact. When she gets rid of October, she returns home only to find life has not necessarily gotten better for her as she’s too late to take a makeup test to save herself from a failing grade in one of her classes causing her dad to ground her and tighten the leash on her. Meanwhile, Calico, Sam’s mentor, speaks with a mysterious woman. It appears Sam might be some sort of savior in the making!
After the first half of this mini, I wasn’t so sure. Things were jumbled and moving so fast to the point that I actually wanted a six part story. I know… I hardly ever want a six part story, but still, it almost felt necessary. Whereas Mark Waid’s Ruse excelled at a perfect pace, it almost felt like Mike Carey, the writer of this series, struggled early with pacing. Starting with last issue, though, Carey reigned it all in and gave us a fairly decent wrap up. I actually believe that Sigil is more likely to have a second arc than Ruse unless Mark Waid is really excited about doing more. Despite all this, Sigil really ended on a positive note that sets up the potential of bringing it back fairly strong. In the end, I was happy to see Sigil end on a fun and more exciting note that was much more straightfoward than it seemed to be begin. When it comes right down to it, I really recommend this mini to readers of all ages. I think it shows the classic Marvel everyman character (yes, I guess that should be everyWOMAN, but I digress) that is easy to relate to and understand where that person is coming from. I think it’s a good book for teenage girls to read because Sam isn’t too different than the average high school girl. She’s facing bullies, uncertainty, and making mistakes. We all go through this, but adding powers to all that would be even more difficult.
With Carey able to focus the last two issues into a fun and exciting book, and Leonard Kirk’s really pleasing art, I would like to see Sigil return for another mini, if not a full series of its own.
A COMIC BOOK BLOG RATING
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Nice wrap up from Carey and some really nice art from Kirk. All in all, I hope Sigil still has more to come. | The last two issues improved, but as a whole, the first two issues need extra focus to get to the second half of the mini. |
| Rating |
