Cherish #3, from Dynamite, with its stunning cover by Brett Booth, starts off well.
It’s the story of a young woman who witnesses her father’s murder. Which is tragic enough, of course, but his killing is done by some of the richest and most powerful people in the world. And so, we have Chaya the protector and Cherish the assassin.
This issue is convoluted but has interesting trails and intertwining plots. For a first-time reader like me, it’s a maddeningly dense forest of characters and situations, and we are left to untangle it ourselves. It’s an IKEA of a comic, with all the pieces in a box, but someone forgot to give us the assembly diagram. Oh well, grab a cup of coffee and dive in!
Katana Collins’ action scenes are amazing, well-written, and well-executed by artist Gabriel Caitano. (colours by Omi Remalante Jr., letters by Taylor Esposito, edited by Joe Corallo) We feel the kinetic energy, we marvel at the twisting and writhing figures in motion. All good and fun.
Where I feel the need for clarity and editing is in the quieter passages, where two people are in a room talking, or when characters are dropped into scenes without any ‘further introduction’ to the reader. It’s a matter of timing and beats per page and per scene; the writing needs to grab us by the shirt collar and drag us through the adventure!
All in all, a good story with strong characters, but it’s definitely a comic that you will need to read a few times to get the full and glorious picture.
Cherish #3, Dynamite Comics, $3.99 for 24 pages of content
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