13 Coins #3 continues with John learning about his parents and his important role in the ongoing war between the Sons of Noah and the Fallen. Samuel introduces him to the others in the group, and Larue is one who isn’t impressed. Larue feels that John is too green and thinks it’s a waste of time to initiate him into the Sons of Noah while trying to explain the ongoing war. John doesn’t care about any of that and just wants to go after the one responsible for killing Brandi. But Samuel tells him that there’s no way he can fight against the Fallen without training. So he offers to train John, and tells him that it’s in his blood just like the rest of the Sons of Noah. But what makes John different is that he’s a true-blood, meaning both his parents were from bloodlines descending from angels, so he would be the closest thing to an angel compared to anyone else. And usually the first-born truebloods would be killed at birth due to fear of the prophecy of an angel touching the chain in the form of one of the coins. And if it wasn’t for his parents and the promise to hide him, the same would’ve been done to him. But the schemes of the Fallen are more complicated than that, and their plan with Senator Graham is set in motion as he’s fully recruited for their cause. And there’s another one, Manny, who is haunted by visions of a young girl he killed while he was in the armed forces. His role in everything is undetermined as of now, but he’s set to receive the Purple Heart from the President on national TV. And with his visions, could he possibly be like John or something else? And will he ultimately be a friend or a foe?

But this issue has more than just training and explanations of John’s past because the Fallen’s plan with Senator Graham would be revealed along with some new characters. And I liked the way the schemes were handled in the previous two issues, and since there wasn’t a huge battle in public this issue, it didn’t undercut the insistence that this was all occurring secretly. There wouldn’t be much of an explanation regarding Manny so it’s still unclear whether he’ll be involved with the Fallen or the Sons of Noah. So with that and with John getting ready to accept his true nature and the Fallen putting their plans into motion, I’m feeling like the potential at the onset of this series is finally being tapped into. And that’s definitely a good thing.

SUMMARY

13 Coins #3 gets the series on track to finally tap into the potential of its premise fully by revealing the truth of John’s bloodline and the introduction into the exciting new elements with his training. This has me excited to see what kind of powers John will acquire and how they will be developed. The shaky execution from the previous issues doesn’t return here, and thankfully John’s commentary on his situation made it easier to accept the way this was all unfolding. But this was also due to the storyline becoming more interesting, and I felt engrossed at various points. So I’m looking forward to the next issue, and seeing what’s in store for all these characters.

Release Date: 12/17/14

Writer: Martin Brennan, Michael B. Jackson

Artist: Simon Bisley