Desperate to save team leader Emma, the rest of Zodiac Starforce risk opening a portal to the dangerous realm of Nephos to find a cure. But when the tiny portal rips asunder and monsters start spilling out of it and overrunning the town, Zodiac Starforce will need all the help they can get to defeat the evil goddess Cimmeria, her monster legion, and her mean-girl minion Diana. It's a monster mash, but Zodiac Starforce is ready to crash this party!
Kevin Panetta is a Washington, DC based comic book and graphic novel writer. He has written licensed children's comics from Boom! Studios. His first creator-owned series, Zodiac Starforce, debuted from Dark Horse Comics in August 2015.
What I basically got out of this issue was that the other girls were all useless without their team leader. It's one thing when everyone cares about their leader so they are desperate to take care of her and save her, I've seen that in "magical girl" stories before. Here it did not come across as that. They just simply could not make a decision and were so desperate to have her back that they were worthless. I almost want to give this lower than three stars because it was so frustrating.
The "villian" origin story is so heartbreaking oh my gosh. Little confused why she was coming after thr Zodiac Starforce now since they've had their powers for at least two years but whatever, I'll accept this potential plothole haha.
As much as I'm so in love with this new magical girl team it's a bit hard for me to get so choked up about everything happening between Emma being offered up, and Lily being turned evil because I haven't gotten the time to actually get to know them. However I think Diana previously being a ZSF herself was an excellent twist!! That has me incredibly excited to see how it all wraps up in the next issue. Not to mention devastated--I hope more come after this arc is concluded! Also did anyone else get a chuckle out of the guy with the most 'screen' time, named Darren getting turned evil? Such a huge Sailor Moon reference!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Do you remember when there was a new season of the Pokemon anime? Ash would start over in a new region and seem like he completely forgot everything he learned about Pokemon in the previous region(s). That's what I got from this chapter. Emma was MIA because of the infection and the girls were a hot mess. As if they all didn't save the world just two years ago.
What I did like about the chapter was the reality of it all. A lot of the time in superhero media it seems like the superheros always completely save the day. Here the girls had to choose: Emma or the city. Their loyalty to each other or their promise to Astra. It was a nice touch.
I like that flashbacks back to what happened with Emma's mother.
Also, the whole Astra-really-doesn't-have-your-best-interests-in-mind will be fun to see played out in the future. Someone obviously wasn't satisfied with the way things were so they decided to go AWOL. Sigh. What do you expect?
This is really the perfect combo of contemporary mixing with fantasy and/or sci-fi. I like seeing how the girls work to balance their two lives.
Very much enjoying this series, which might as well have been aimed directly at my heart. As a Sailor Moon fangirl, it hits right in that space reserved for awesome design, beautiful artwork, strong friendships and team dynamics. :D
I guess it has just been too long since I read the other issues. I just didn't find this one all that enjoyable. And, the last one was not great, either.