Comic Review: Aphrodite V #2 (Image Comics)

A beautiful cover by Jeff Spokes awaits us with the second issue of Aphrodite V, from Top Cow / Image comics.

It’s a great start to the current issue, written by Bryan Hill and illustrated by Jeff Spokes, who apparently inks and colours his own work. Wow, that’s a tough workload!

Issue 1 introduced us to a main character, who set the tone: Martin Carver, a billionaire who is trying to convince officials of the city that they need to turn over the security of the city to his team. His arrogance appears to be the result of his high IQ and his supreme self-confidence. Or is there more?

When Aphrodite V appears and saves his life, it piques his curiosity. It also irritates some very powerful fighters, who have sworn allegiance to their “Lord”, a masked figure.

This is a book with lots of quick movement, violence, and dark tones. The subject matter is synthetic humans and assassinations, with lots of urbane dialogue and postulation. Everyone wants to make the world a better place, they just happen to disagree on how many people they need to kill in order for that to happen!

The visuals are gorgeous; a combination of figures in action, and figures seemingly posing for the camera. An interesting combination that suggests that reference photos might be used for the drawings and that the subject is being told to show they are aware that they are being photographed. Getting too deep, are we? It IS that kind of book: assassins who are questioning their role, and megalomaniacs who are not.

Let’s say that drama seeps from every page. And that’s a good thing.

Also includes an 8-page bonus preview of Infinite Dark issue 1.

Image/ Top Cow, Aphrodite V #2, assume $3.99 for 22 pages of content, Assume Teen +