Sage Escape: Equinox #2

By Damian S Simankowicz

“He killed the leaders of my village. I think he collected their souls.”

“He did. And if you want to keep yours, you’ll do exactly as Imogen instructed.”

You better listen to her, Sage! She sounds pretty upset about something…

Sage Escape: Equinox #2 sets a path for destruction, as right from the get-go a battle rages on. Writer/artist Damian S Simankowicz keeps this an issue of hot pursuits as Sage is placed into a war she wants nothing to do with – all while running into friends from the past that might just not give her a choice. She’s here to save what’s left of the human race!

Towards the end of this issue Simankowicz tenses things up even more as the future of the human race looks pretty grim. A line from Imogen tells us we’re in for some big scenes come next issue, “Pull the fleet back to minimal safe distance. I want a kamikaze run with a warhead.”

A lot of the artwork relies on textures, many looking computer generated a lot of the times (remember that show Reboot?). Some of the fighting involves mech-units that are met with a highly textured blue, making them stand out from the often grey/green backgrounds.

A great scene features an archer going up against a mechanized enemy. You first get a panel of the archer atop her perch as the mech-unit tries to lock on, and as you get closer and the target is locked you get a panel showing they’ve both found their targets at the same time… which doesn’t end so well for the mech-unit. This scene also stands out as the arrow used is a bright pink, and one of the panels shows it’s a perfect impact into the head of the mech-unit. Good shot!

Another scene, one that features some of Imogen’s immense power, shows “the last two politicians” being… well… zapped away as pink/purple lightning shoots from Imogen’s finger tips and tears away at the skin of the humans. This scene features a great level of detail as the politicians try to reason with her… but that’s certainly not going to get them anywhere.

Damian S Simankowicz successfully creates a tale loaded with suspense as we’re placed alongside Sage in an ongoing war. But who are her real allies? Will Sage being reunited with a lost friend prove to be beneficial? Or is something lurking under the surface…