Friday, August 28, 2009

Promethea Volume 3

Written by Alan Moore
Art by JH Williams III and Mick Gray

Promethea, in its third volume, no longer worries too much about having a story to tell. Sure, there are the trappings of a story: Sophie is worried about Barbara's spirit, and so travels into the higher realms of the Immateria to find her, and then when she finds her, goes on a quest with her to help her find the spirit of her lost husband. While she's gone, Stacia merges with one of the other Promethea's, beats up some bad guys, then some good guys, and goes after the mayor.

Really though, what's going on here is the journey through Alan Moore's world view. There's tons of Kabbalistic mysticism, symbolism, imagery, and strange guest appearances. I suppose, if you have a strong grounding in magic, this stuff would be quite meaningful to you, but it sort of comes across as mumbo jumbo.

What saves this book, is Williams incredible artwork. I know he's getting a lot of praise for his work on Detective Comics right now, which is gorgeous, but in a lot of ways, this stuff here is better. The scene where Sophie and Barb walk a Moebius strip is incredible stuff. This really is a comic that is read for the art.

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