Villordsutch reviews Aphrodite IX #5…
“Aphrodite IX woke up in a new world with no memory and no idea of her true purpose. But finding out the truth about herself and how her handler Burch has been manipulating her will change everything.”
Everything that has gone before has finally led to this climatic battle between Genesis and Speros. From the assassinations to brutal, bloody violent deaths and the manipulations of love, all of these actions have brought these two warring enemies together and the sole purpose for Speros is to claim superiority of the planet by eradicating the inhabitants of Genesis.
As you know I have enjoyed this series of Aphrodite IX quite a bit; though the art style I have questioned throughout my reviews, the story has been strong enough to easily carry it along. This issue however is a bit anti-climax to be brutally honest. As with most resolutions you are left with a feeling of “is that it?” Our climatic battle isn’t that climatic; we have but one heart-broken genetically enhanced woman taking out half the fleet of the Speros and due to a wee bit of Deus Ex Machina it’s all over in the middle of the comic.
Overall, I feel let down by it all, but one huge issue that goaded me the most was in amongst the destruction of Genesis, a mother was cradling her infant child whilst telling it “not to look” and they are then rescued by the actions of our protagonist at the 11th hour. Yes I understand that the scene gives us an attachment to the people losing their lives during the destruction, however I’m more than aware that big guns = big deaths; then to have the mother and child survive riled me a bit more – it reminded me greatly of the surviving dog out of Independence Day. It got my back up as throughout the series we have been treated like intelligent readers then to pull out this cliché made me rather bemused at why this was in here.
That being said, I was fired up for where this was going once the battle was over and to see how the final scenes played out; even the artwork by Stjepan Sejic looked perfect for what was painted across the final few pages.
As you’ve read I wasn’t overly impressed with this month’s issue. It wasn’t at the standard that I have come to expect from the fantastic pen of Matt Hawkins. However, I would like to add that Aphrodite IX has so far been an excellent series and it has stumbled slightly at the climax of this run but not fallen. If you haven’t started the series yet I’d recommend starting now.
If you would like to get issue 1 of Aphrodite IX it is currently available for free over at Topcow – http://topcow.com/moos/43-latest-moos/751-aphrodite-ix-1-read-now
Villordsutch is married with kids and pets. He looks like a tubby Viking and enjoys science fiction. Follow him on Twitter.
Originally published September 20, 2013. Updated April 11, 2018.
