DON'T DROP BEOWULF
WOW, that's a lot of purple. It's almost overwhelming. But the design's really nice. The shining crystal sparking all the purple light is a perfect focal point, drawing your eyes right to it before you look down at the rest.
Amethyst is a really interesting and strangely unique series. It swings close to being a relic of a lost age, but it's modernized itself just enough to avoid being dry, and thus it's actually very unique in the current time. I don't see a lot of good hard fantasy series' like this, with action and magic and a surprising amount of medieval politics. It's all actually interesting, and we get introduced to it through Amaya's eyes, who is as new to this world as we are. All the exposition is completely justified, as Amaya is nearly overwhelmed by everything in this world. The Mist-Silk cloak is definitely a personal favorite of mine.
As with the first two issues, this one has a LOT of dialogue. There's action, sure, but there's a ton of dialogue. It's actually not dull though, because there's just so much that needs to be told. This is one of the few comics I've ever seen that can have this much dialogue and still consistently read so captivatingly.
The mysteries really deepen in this issue as the action dies down a bit and we start to see how the regal system works in this world. From the mysterious and somewhat neutral House Onyx to the unstable House Diamond, and even the blended lineage of House Turquoise. There's a ton of new information that opens up more of this whole world of potential. I really think Prince Hadran will end up playing a big role in this series, he's really humble and heroic, especially compared to his ridiculously asshole-ish brother, Zushan. But Zushan fits the unfortunate pitfalls of the old style of royalty. I mean, yes it's absolutely terrible to take a bride away from her brand new husband on their wedding day so you can take her virginity instead of letting her husband do it...... but he kind of has the right to in this messed up system.
I'm going to be absolutely devastated when the co-feature switches from Beowulf to something else. Beowulf is one of the best things to come out of the New 52. It's such a brilliant take on the epic tale, with the DCU thrown into the mix to keep things fresher. Every moment is either brilliant or completely badass. This is certainly helped by Jesus Saiz doing the best art of his life. Every single time Beowulf even moves it's the coolest thing ever. So when he's fighting Grendel it's pure ecstasy. The character design, weapon design, and world design are all utterly gorgeous and the flow is absolutely stellar. And then there's the thin layer of huge mystery to the setting.... Tony Bedard and Jesus Saiz should really congratulate themselves, because they've made something just so incredible here. I'm seriously dreading this backup ending, and I'm going to desperately plead DC to bring it back or give it its own series; because it's just so fantastic.
In Conclusion: 5/5
Sword of Sorcery BLEEDS potential from veins filled to excess. Aaron Lopresti's artwork is really nice for Amethyst's hard fantasy, and this issue set things moving along smoothly. On top of that Beowulf was the most amazing thing ever for the third time in a row. I NEED MORE OF THIS BEOWULF. NOW.
