Character Development
This issue is written by J.T. Krul (like nearly any other Aspen book) with art by Marcus To.
Storywise we can see a more darker side of some characters. For example Blackjack who enjoys working for Rainier which means she doesn´t have to hold back any longer. She is now allowed to brutally kill car thieves...of course everything in the light of keeping magic under control. Yeah, right! I think somebody has some severe anger issues. Another character who shows her dark side is Jayden who not only tries to seperate Malikai from Sonia but dabbles in stealing jewelry. The bad thing about this is that Malikai doesn´t realize her bad attitude. Here we can see some cool interactions between Malikai and Sonia which furthers their character development. Further character development we can find in Benoist who shows his feelings towards his old mentor. A side which is not often shown by this hard ass character. But what I really loved about this issue was when Grace and Seph tried to free the baby dragon (a very cute one, thanks to Marcus To) but were stopped by Blackjack. A lot of emotions were shown next to a cool cliffhanger (Grace and Seph stuck to the ground while being under attack from wild angry animals).
The art was as always perfect. Marcus To is a great penciller with perfect coloring by Beth Sotelo. She becomes one of my favorite colorists.
Overall a good issue. Krul tells interesting stories and manages to explore his characters and To achieves a perfect storytelling. I definitely recommend this issue because you will be sucked into the world of Soulfire.
4/5