I struggle to find the words for what exactly didn't work for me in this comic. It created a world unlike any that I have seen before, which meant a lot of explaining. Perhaps the story did not explain itself well. There was a lot of ambiguity between the main character, Melissa, and the current battle between "The Discipline" and "The Stalkers." Her role in this war felt as if she was invited to a feast where half of the food was fake and they never tell you which food, but all of it tasted real anyways. The end.

When all the backstory was "established" (which was like 85% of the comic), did the story actually start flowing better. So that is what I think was the culprit: the lack of the writer's ability to clearly and artfully explain an ancient battle that raged over centuries. Perhaps, (and I paraphrase) "if you can't explain it simply, you do not understand it well enough." And we can rest here, somewhat assured, that the writer did not quite know what he was doing.

(I kid, but not really. )

Quick additional note, that I feel didn't help with the story feeling like it fell flat: The characters didn't quite feel whole, real. At one point, near the end, the main character has to force herself to partake in something to defend something she loved. But the writer didn't really make you feel that she, well, actually loved it at all. And I realized, I didn't really care about any of the characters. So, that didn't help the story at all either.

I'm not going to continue with this series. Had it been a full-sized novel, I would have abandoned it.

Lastly, the art was wonderful and that cover was the best chance this comic had of being read. ( )

Approximately, 50 Shades of Promethea.

I was quite up for this at the beginning – the unfeasibly naïve heroine, the contemporary New York setting, the looming eldritch forces all made me think we were in for a schlocky sexploitation story, like a Dennis Wheatley mash-up. But the build-up was too short, the seduction too implausible, and the proliferation of supernatural monsters too silly.

https://i.imgur.com/cjYvqOq.jpg

Leandro Fernández's art is good, sometimes great, although the colouring from Chris Peter is not to my taste, full of too many lurid oranges and greens (as in the page above). Our main character, the ‘sexually and emotionally frustrated’ young wife Melissa, is engaging enough to hold your interest, but the sexiness is played kind of coy and it started to creep me out – after spending the evening jilling off, she simpers to her bestie that she was doing ‘that thing…that we women do sometimes’. You become very aware that she was written by a guy, drawn by a second guy and coloured in by a third guy. Having a woman on the team would have gone a long way I think.

If The Discipline had been played slower, it might have had more going for it; as it is, there's not enough tease and the seduction does not live up to the pay-off. Unless you're mad for paranormal romance, this can be passed over fairly guiltlessly. ( )

Definitely not your parents' comic books. Supernatural beings battle each other throughout history, using sex to recruit and possess humans. Intriguing artwork gets 4 stars but a choppy storyline getting only 2 for an overall score of 3 stars. ( )