Sovereign #3

By Chris Roberson, Paul Maybury and Brad Simpson

Sovereign has provided the reader with an incredibly rich lore and back story over the early course of the series. Roberson has penned a comic that truly feels like a classic fantasy novel. Issues one and two made no attempt to hold the readers hand and has been better off for it. The three plot lines of the first issues come together in issue three’s story for a great pay off. Issue three ramps up the pace and action to exciting levels.

Even though this issue lacks the hard story breaks of the previous issues, the issue starts off giving each separate group their respective time in the spotlight. These focused sections of the comic provide for even more lore and background. The story lines then begin to intersect at the series first big conflict. For any fan of this specific genre, Sovereign continue to hits all the right beats. Roberson juggles the large cast of characters extremely well especially in an issue where they are all now sharing the same space with each other. The last third of the comic is easily the most action the series has seen so far. The build up from previous issues comes together nicely and smoothly ties together the groups.

Sovereign is Paul Maybury’s best work in comics yet and issue three is the best art in the series yet. Maybury’s art is literally exploding out of the panels but the end of the issue. The reader is always rewarded with Maybury’s art if they take the time to really look at the background of panels. In one panel, chaos has broken out and the large crowd has become frantic. In the background Maybury has completely captured the chaos with people running all different directions with looks of panic on their faces. Simpson and Maybury’s colors have been stellar all series but with the heavy traffic and intensity of issue three they really shine. The world is bright and often filled with varying shades of beautiful blues.

Issue three gives readers their first glimpse into the future of the series. If Sovereign was a movie the ominous and exciting end of issue three is where the director would hard cut to the title card. Roberson and Maybury have created a vast and deep fantasy world that any fan can and should get lost in.