Valkyrie Saviors #3

Valkyrie Saviors #3

Antarctic Press 2021

Written by Ron Z

Illustrated by Donny Hadiwidjaja

Coloured by Sean Lee

Lettered by Keith Perkins

Created by the goddess Freya, the Valkyrie Saviors are the last defense against the Zodiac gods. Angered at her group's plans being foiled by college student Diana's ascendence to being the new Valkyrie of Fire, Sagittarius grants her avatar, Singe, a little direct divine assistance. But now that she's broken the rules the pantheons agreed upon, the Norse gods can do the same, and Diana gets a blazing new blade! But she's still outnumbered and untrained...will it be enough?

I am quite a fan of this book. The idea behind the Valkyrie’s needing to be replenished after being decimated is a good, solid idea and so far things are off to one heck of a start. I’ve been trying to put my thoughts in order for this issue and it's taken me longer than usual to do so. I’m not sure why that is either because we pick up where we left off last issue and as the fight continues and with some creative dialogue and plenty of T & A, which I find kind of cute and endearing, it is a lot of fun to read.

I like the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information if presented extremely well. The character development that we see through the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter continues to bring their personalities to the forefront. With a large cast of characters to not just focus on but to flesh out, Ron does a magnificent job with how we see them. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages revealing the story we see how everything gets tied up and ready for the next arc.

I very much appreciate the way that we see this being structured and how the layers within the story continue to emerge, grow, evolve and strengthen. I like how we see these layers opening up new avenues to be explored, some of which impact the main arc while others don’t yet they all add such great depth, dimension and complexity to the story. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is impeccably achieved.

I love the interiors here. The linework is phenomenal and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create this level & quality of work within the detail is truly sensational. That we see backgrounds being utilised as they are as they really enhance and expand the moments beautifully. They also work within the composition of the panels to bring out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story is great to see. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show an extremely talented eye for storytelling. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work show a brilliant eye for how colour works and how to maximise their effects.

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This is a great franchise and that we are seeing things being built up from the ground up after being demolished is something extraordinary to witness. I am also very much enjoying seeing how this has such a natural progression to the order in which we see things occur. It has a great presence surrounding the story and this is thanks to how it’s written, how we see the characterisation as well these bloody brilliant interiors bring this all to life.