Mark Millar’s science fiction story about a runaway wife continues in “Empress #2,†a series that has promise, but the second issue starts to show some problems with the story.
The Empress, her children and Dane go to a stopover planet called Antares to find Tor Blinder, a soldier who fought in the One Day War. Problem is, he lost his teleporter called Ship in a game to a crime lord. Now they have to get Ship back.
This is where the story is starting to go downhill. Antares is yet another science fiction stopover planet where a big fight takes place. We know exactly what’s going to happen, even to the point where we can see the race that’ll “do anything for money†and someone losing an important plot item gambling.
Besides that, the long action scene is entertaining. There’s a lot going on and even has some amazing moments. Of course, the ending is predictable.
One of the worst things about this series is seen in this issue. The Empress’s children are useless. Yes, her son does help out in one task, but that task could’ve easily been done by Tor. Also, the daughter is annoying to the point where you want to see her die. All she does is complain about running away and wants to go back to her dad. Worse yet, the children are so invisible that you forget that there is a third child who’s still a toddler. You can write them out entirely and nothing will change.
The art is still nice to see, but here there are some inconsistencies. One of them is Dane jobs from a ship towards another and grabs a handle hat wasn’t on the ship in the previous panel. Beyond that, the rest of the art, especially during the fight scene, is well done.
“Empress #2†continues to make this series look like a generic science fiction story with nice art. You still want to find out what happens next, but the overall story isn’t anything to write home about.
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