Broken Trinity: Pandora's Box #1

Over the past 18 months or so I've been drawn, by quality stories, writing and artwork, into picking-up pretty much every book in the Top Cow universe - that said, aside from reading an odd issue here and there in the past I'm not really familiar with Broken Trinity. Twenty-five or so pages later - I'm hooked!

If I wasn't already drawn-in by the advance publicity for the mini-series, and credit to Top Cow by the way for getting material - preview pages, interviews, teasers - out to the fans ahead of publication, then Tommy Lee Edwards magnificent cover pulled me in immediately with it's mix of adventure, danger and the mysterious.

I really enjoy tales that exist in that space between outlandish fantasy and historical fact - and for me this first issue occupies very much occupies that space ...

Finn and Glori, the bearers of the Glacier and Ember Stones, first introduced in Broken Trinity, return this month in a pulse-pounding, world-spanning adventure series. When a fanatic cult embarks on a quest to remake the world with the mythical Pandora’s Box, Finn and Glori’s individual goals of gathering the 13 Artifacts is kicked into overdrive.

If, like me, you're not particularly familiar with Finn and Glori then fear not - as is the norm from Top Cow we get a very quick recap of the central characters ahead of the story, and then a little more detail at the back of the book: as I've said before, I wish all publishers would adopt this practice of offering a quick 'previously' at the start of the issue.

I believe Broken Trinity: Pandora's Box is a five or six issue series that will lead us into the 13-issue Artifacts series from Ron Marz, set to be published later in the summer - as the cover proclaims 'The road to Artifacts begins here!' - and as such I think worked perfectly as a 'foundation' issue: reintroducing us to the central characters and establishing motivations and alliances while all the while entertaining the reader with a fast-paced, engaging tale that's at times calm, thoughtful and considered and at others frenzied, bloody and violent.

Throughout the book Alessandro Vitti provides strong, confident artwork delivered using some eye catching page layouts, while Sunny Gho ensures that the colours are distinctive and perfectly complement the tone of the story.

All in all, a really good read - another 'not to be missed' from Top Cow.

Broken Trinity: Pandora's Box #1
Written by Rob Levin and Bryan Edward Hill with art by Alessandro Vitti and cover by Tommy Lee Edwards
Published by Top Cow Productions, $3.99, 22 story pages, 24 February 2010

Source: CBR