Knight Errant: Aflame #3

Writer: John Jackson Miller

Cover Artist: Joe Quinones

Interior Art by: Ivan Rodriguez, Belardino Brabo, Marcio Loezer, and Michael Atiyeh

Aflame #3 was a visual change up from the previous issues as it marks a change in the artists. All of the characters have a new look, and though the artwork is still very good, it’s still jarring to see the difference. For one, Odion now has a stark veiny look with what appear to be blood vessels all along his head and neck. Furthermore Kerra Holt is slightly more attractive looking with noticeable differences in her face. She now sports a smaller nose, and eyes that have the distinct look of mascara on the lashes. But the visual change up also brings about a change in scenery.

With issues one and two both taking place groundside, issue three propels the story into space. We are shown a glimpse of Odion’s flagship Sword of Ieldis which has a very unique look dissimilar to any ships we’ve seen elsewhere in the EU. Odion’s massive mobile manufacturing plant, The Spike, is also shown for the first time and the artists do a good job at presenting the intimidating size of the structure. Interestingly enough, the scope of the structure is best illustrated from the inside as the panels show the facility constructing the Kinetic Corruptors.

As for Odion, this issue did a good job of elaborating on his character, though he did not come off as well as Daiman did. Whereas Daiman is the overdramatic eccentric, Odion feels more like the ugly duckling mixed with the school yard bully whose jealous of his brother’s success only taken to the extreme. For instance, Odion isn’t content with just defeating his brother, but instead wants to destroy the galaxy. The Death Cult Odion has created to do this makes for an intriguing story element which gets touched upon briefly in this issue. My favorite line was Odion’s:

They exist to be killed by me. Every death is different. Everyone is to be savored. Death makes life worth living.

Odion has some colorful minions who show themselves here. First there is Jelcho, Odion’s aide-de-camp who happens to be a Givin, and whose entire crew appears to be Givins. Then there is Odion’s Death Cult followers who actually beg for death when they encounter failure in their tasks. GAD-3 provides the first real humor in the series as a droid who calmly asks for his arms back after Kerra does a little on-the-spot surgery. Lastly, Odion has an elite guard called the Lightning Guard, though we don’t get to see them in action yet, but it provides a nice little teaser to look forward to.

As a final bonus, this issue includes a five page preview of Mass Effect Evolution at the end.

With a better look at Odion, the nice addition of a space battle, and the continuing journey of Kerra Holt, I give this issue a three out of five brass bikins. It wasn’t as good as #2, but it wasn’t bad, and it certainly added to the series.

Feel free to discuss it in the forums.