Scan barcode
wyrmdog's review
2.0
Like so many comic books, this one almost sabotages itself. The creator so much as admits some of the problems stem from having too many ideas to pursue, passing this one off to a different writer, and originally designing the main character as a one-off sketch that clashed a bit with his original thoughts on the property.
The concept itself is interesting, though not genre-bending. The revelation at the end makes sense, but isn't necessarily what I thought it'd be. It's what I'd have done had I written it, though, and I liked that a lot. It's quite possibly the best element of the book.
I am also a big fan of Dave Finch's art and he illustrated this book.
Problematically, the art borders on (or more likely crosses blatantly into) the prurient. Sexual undertones or even overtones are fine if they fit the story and to some degree they do here, but the outfit makes little to no sense and serves only to allow a plethora of sexualized action sequences and gratutitous views of the main character's assets. She makes the main villain and even Witchblade (an unrepentant favorite of mine) look downright puritanical. It takes an otherwise decent cyberpunk action-adventure with a few light thriller elements and makes it something outright embarrassing to read publicly.
So I didn't. I read it stealthily.
In the end, this book epitomizes much of what is worst about superhero comic book portrayals of female characters. The Aphrodite line of characters really work better in the other stories they've been a part of (Artifacts, Cyberforce, et al). I sorta liked it in spite of myself, but I cannot in good conscience recommend it to anyone.
The concept itself is interesting, though not genre-bending. The revelation at the end makes sense, but isn't necessarily what I thought it'd be. It's what I'd have done had I written it, though, and I liked that a lot. It's quite possibly the best element of the book.
I am also a big fan of Dave Finch's art and he illustrated this book.
Problematically, the art borders on (or more likely crosses blatantly into) the prurient. Sexual undertones or even overtones are fine if they fit the story and to some degree they do here, but the outfit makes little to no sense and serves only to allow a plethora of sexualized action sequences and gratutitous views of the main character's assets. She makes the main villain and even Witchblade (an unrepentant favorite of mine) look downright puritanical. It takes an otherwise decent cyberpunk action-adventure with a few light thriller elements and makes it something outright embarrassing to read publicly.
So I didn't. I read it stealthily.
In the end, this book epitomizes much of what is worst about superhero comic book portrayals of female characters. The Aphrodite line of characters really work better in the other stories they've been a part of (Artifacts, Cyberforce, et al). I sorta liked it in spite of myself, but I cannot in good conscience recommend it to anyone.
carroq's review
4.0
So the concept behind this book is cool. It's set in a futuristic time in which humans are trying to overcome their aging bodies by replacing bits with synthetic parts. Enter Aphrodite, a young woman who is made entirely synthetic and seems not to age. She is also super badass. And an assassin. Every time she kills she loses her memories though.
This book is a lot of fun. Some of the concepts might not be original, but what is done with them here is enjoyable enough that it doesn't matter. For the most part I liked the art, but the character design for Aphrodite seems very voyeuristic. It seems to be representative of how women in comics were being drawn at the time. That stinks because the character is cool and the art could turn off potential readers.
This book is a lot of fun. Some of the concepts might not be original, but what is done with them here is enjoyable enough that it doesn't matter. For the most part I liked the art, but the character design for Aphrodite seems very voyeuristic. It seems to be representative of how women in comics were being drawn at the time. That stinks because the character is cool and the art could turn off potential readers.
More...