More brilliance from Alan Moore. More mystical and magical than the first one...so much so that there's barely a story, and what there is gets wrapped up with barely an explanation. But that's not really the point with Promethea - it's all about ideas, and stories, and myth, and life.

Ace.

After the first one, this one seemed a bit of a letdown. I still liked it. The art on this series is simply gorgeous overall (though given the art in the rest of the volume, I really expected those Tarot cards to be a lot more ornate). The main problem for me is that the reading experience was simply exhausting. By the time I got to the last part with the story of the universe and the tarot, I just wanted it to end. Moore just packed way too much stuff; it was a bit overloaded. And I did find the comic issue presented as a widescreen more of an annoyance. It did not add anything visually, and it only made it more difficult for me to hold the book.

Having said that, the exploration of imagination, myth, story, and life is still very good. There are a lot of things to appreciate in this volume, and it may merit rereading. I am enjoying the series overall, but I do hope Moore tightens things a bit more in the forthcoming volumes. I think we have enough background, time to get back to the main story and the action. ( )

Sophie continues to explore what it means to be Promethea whilst her foes gather. There's even more time spent in the present New York, which is wildly futuristic by our standards--and also giddily fun. My one problem with this collection is the excessively long-winded description of magic and tarot near the end. It lasts for an entire comic, and I skipped it all without a feeling of guilt. ( )

Sophie is a geeky New York teen in 1999 doing a paper on a mythic figure, Promethea. Always female, Promethea has had many personalities and roles, but she is found in fiction written in almost every generation. Just Sophie is giving up, she's attacked by monsters...and saved by Promethea. But the current Promethea is fading fast, and in order to survive Sophie must take on the mantle of this magical female.
Promethea is imagination manifest, and through her Sophie discovers powers and dangers she had never suspected. ( )