Review - Broken Pieces #3

Lots of series are hitting their third issues, which are typically outliers as far as the series go. The third issue is an outlier of sorts, representing the midpoint of the series and often a down point of the story. Broken Pieces #3 from Aspen Comics only manages to live up to one of those descriptors.

The title is written by Mark Roslan, with illustrations by Cory Smith, colors by Beth Sotelo and letters by Josh Reed.

Richard continues to wage his war against Trinion in his altered beast form, only this issue provides more insight into how he got to the form in the first place. It was a sort of desperate science, his only choice for life. He comes across a camp of survivors who also have beef with Trinion, even finding a hopeful little girl named Sophie.

Meanwhile Gabriella (his wife) is coming to grips with the reality that her husband may be dead. She's being pushed into doing more research for Trinion, except at this point in the game she's more confident and demands more of her situation. Mainly, she wants to be left alone and given more leeway.

Roslan doesn't slow down in the third issue, propelling the story forward with even more violence and hunting of Richard. The book has an Incredible Hulk vibe to it, where Richard really just wants to be left alone but a relentless military force continues after him. And they have mechs!

Smith's art is very crisp. It's actually very well done. His illustrations of Sophie really portray her as an innocent youth caught up in something much bigger, but that doesn't stop her from being aware.

There are also some panels where Smith shows multiple action poses within the same panel, which work very well. They move the action without forcing you to move out of the panel. The settlement scenes are rife with, well, settlers, and Smith imbues them with life and energy.

It'll be interesting to see where Roslan takes the story in the final two issues. The ending was a little predictable just based on the characters involved, but whether or not it galvanizes Richard into further action remains to be seen.

Broken Pieces #3 is in stores now with interiors below.