Image Comics reviews for the week of 7-19-17

Kill the Minotaur #2

Theseus and his allies encounter constantly shifting walls, paralyzing water and a mangled body. And that’s all before coming face to face with the Minotaur.

Writers Chris Pasetto and Christian Cantamessa have a really fun premise. Having the characters trapped in a labyrinth armed only with a sword could come off slow, but they make it a fun page-turner. I got a little Maze Runner meets Clash of the Titans vibe from it and I liked the sense that anything truly could happen.

The dialogue reads a little too modern with Theseus speaking like he’s in a Quentin Tarantino film yelling out obscenities in seemingly every panel. If KTM is shaping up to be a hero’s journey, Pasetto and Cantamessa have a long road ahead in making Theseus a redeemable character. As of right now, he’s super obnoxious and written belligerent for the sake of being belligerent.

There’s a fine line of making an arrogant character work and keeping readers invested in the eventual evolution. At this point, Theseus isn’t engaging enough to care about. This issue was more about the dangers around ever turn and the anticipation for the Minotaur’s next strike. Fortunately there’s plenty of redshirt characters ready to become hapless victims.

Lukas Ketner’s art works well for this setting. Some of the wider, more ambitious spread pages — like the full shot of the labyrinth lack some detail, but overall Ketner’s work does a solid job of telling the story. I really liked the color work from Jean-Francois Beaulieu, who doesn’t just use flat browns and grey tones.

Kill the Minotaur #2 offers thrills for more than just mythology buffs. If the writers can begin the redemption or likability factor of its main character, this is going to be an even better read.

Rating: 7 out of 10