Trinity of Sin: Pandora 7
Ray Fawkes, Francis Portela
Forever Evil Crossover
Spoiler alert! You have been warned!
Just after writer Ray Fawkes literally saved Constantine in the last issue, I was really hoping that he would do it again with Pandora this week. And although he didn’t quite capture lightning in a bottle for a second time in a row, he did improve slightly. Artist Francis Portela aided him in his noble quest to legitimize this (arguably the weakest of the remaining) “dark” or magic titles of the New 52. Not a great read, but certainly a step in the right direction.
Pandora and the new Justice League Dark (under John Constantine’s flimsy anti-hero leadership) confront Blight, again, but this time they have a guardian angel. Literally. But Zauriel doesn’t exactly do a whole lot in terms of help. They all pretty much get their butts handed to them. Again. And then, out of nowhere, Pandora loses her cool and totally embraces her anger, seemingly vanquishing the remaining of the Seven Deadly Sins with one big old burst of magical energy. I’m not entirely sure what was going on, but I went with it because, hey, magic. And it was new. But then something really dumb happened and almost ruined the issue. Almost. Blight gets the upper hand (again, because they really want to drag this out as much as possible, apparently) and seemingly kills both the newly-powerful Pandora and the Phantom Stranger.
Just like this week’s main Forever Evil crossover issue, it’s pretty bland. Not in a terrible “I’m going to rip this up and never read it again” way, but more in a “meh, I’m ready for the next issue” way. Now are Pandora and the Phantom Stranger really dead? No. Am I starting lose interest in this event-within-an-event again? Kind of. But am I interested to see what exactly happened to the two heroes of the Trinity of Sin (and where/when the Question will pop up again, for that matter)? Absolutely. This storyline is far from lost. And it still has a bunch of potential. I’m not just rooting for J. M. DeMatteis anymore. After two issues in a row, I’m finally back on board the Ray Fawkes train. I really hope he doesn’t disappoint me.
My Rating: 3/5
