The Bequest #3 Review: Battle of the Monsters

 

The Bequest #3 Cover by Freddie Williams II & Jeremy Colwell

In The Bequest #3, vengeful one-eyed monk Epoch Craev has teamed up with the politically astute Dylan Medici. After capturing a horde of magical creatures, the two take to the road. Soon, TV stations and internet news sites are filled with reports of the monsters that the men are gradually releasing across the United States.

As in The Bequest #2, we find Human warrior Warlock Garthodd watching TV without his pants on. This time, he's watching the news, as opposed to 1980s Fantasy movies. In his defense, I must also mention that Night Elf Creedux Sharmae, who reminds me a little of Gamora in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, is mending his only pair of pants.

No doubt, if Garthodd had a spaceship, he would claim that, seen under a blacklight, the interior would resemble a Jackson Pollock painting.

 

Relik is the War Party's guardian and mentor in this Earthly realm. He is not only sensitive to the tension in the veil between worlds. He is also concerned about the terrors Epoch Craev is unleashing on our world.

He decides to seek guidance from the Chamber of the Unopened Book. 

I don't know if colorist Jeremy Colwell colored the portal pink because the Mistress of the Rose wears red roses, the Master of Cups drinks red wine, or because Relikiquarfek, who goes by Relik, can transform into a Crimson Dragon. But in The Bequest #1, when Jarril Fain calls on the Mistress of the Rose to whisk the War Party away from the battle between Igneous Dragon Veristine Kole and Epoch Craev's army, she transports them away in a similarly pink bubble.

Nor do I understand the specific duties of the Council members, or how they relate to this (sacred?) Unopened Book. But as I learn more about the members of the War Party, I've grown more sympathetic to Garthodd, whose parents are on the Council, and has not lived up to their expectations of becoming a great Warlock.

In fact, when the Council decides that the War Party should sit this one out, and let the Earthly authorities handle the monsters Craev and Medici are unleashing, it is Garthodd who suggests they intervene.

Is this because, like Star-Lord in the Guardians of the Galaxy, he's found a nobility of purpose? Is it because he lacks purpose, and gets bored just sitting around? Or is it because, as Jerril Fain suggests, Garthodd just wants to get up his parents' noses?

In any case, this otherworldly conference call, and the Council's approval, will launch Relik and the War Party on a road trip in search of monsters.

 

If you haven't noticed by now, writer Tim Seeley uses The Bequest to speculate on the way the media shapes our opinions, and how seemingly rational people adopt views that seems so irrational--or even hateful--to others. While Epoch Craev and Dylan Medici are dedicated to their holy causes, they form an uneasy partnership. 

Craev may have initially recruited Medici, but I can't help but wonder if Medici isn't becoming the stronger of the two.

Oh, and if you're wondering about Dylan's eyes, that's a power that Epoch Craev gifted him in The Bequest #1. If he hasn't already, the one-eyed monk may well rue the day he decided to recruit Dylan Medici and his white supremacist followers.

While he's found that Dylan is a man with such political and financial connections, and is extremely driven and astute,

Dylan is also a man of very strong opinions.

When those opinions are even questioned, Medici has a boiling point that letterer Marshall Dillon reveals with screeching clarity.

Of course, along with the heady political and media speculation, writer Tim Seeley also throws in the odd bit of satire.

Penciler and inker Freddie Williams II continues to impress in The Bequest #3. In addition to gorgeous panel transitions such as those between Epoch Craev and Dylan Medici, this issue features many scenes in which Garthodd, Sharmae, half-elf wizard Jerril Fain, wood sprite Billi Uft-imp, and Crimson Dragon Relik take to the road.

Let the Battle Of The Monsters commence!

In addition to great panel transitions, Williams' point-of-view also amazes. After the panel in which Garthodd gets knocked down, Williams angles the camera lens up from Garthodd's chest. I can only imagine Garthodd's shock when he sees Sharmae catch the sword the monster knocked from his hand, and leap over him to attack. 

There are so many gorgeous panels with the War Party fighting the horde of monsters Craev and Medici are unleashing upon the United States. It's hard not to show them all. But I know your time is valuable, and you're anxious to get on to other things. 

Still, I thought I'd end this review with a final teaser. As in The Bequest #1, Relik never fails to impress when he transforms into his alter ego.

Or is it his true self?

 

As Craev and Medici traveling east, they intend on ushering our country, and perhaps our world, into a new and better age. Can Relik and the War Party stop them before the chaos they unleash creates an End of Days for the world as we know it? If you have not yet picked up The Bequest #3, be sure to do so tomorrow, when you visit your local comic shop.

While you're there, you might also want to pick up The Bequest #4. Assuming Craev and Medici's monsters haven't totally disrupted UPS delivery schedules, it should be there tomorrow too.

Dragon Dave