Reviews»Comic Books»13 Coins #1
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Kareem Ali 4

13 Coins #1

 

  • The good

    Intriguing premise and good introduction to Jon Pozner. Intense action

  • The bad

    Story elements don't tie together so it's difficult to see the overall current state of affairs

  • The ugly

  • 13 Coins #1 is the start of a new series written by Martin Brennan and published by Titan Comics about an ex-con who will play a crucial role in the battle between angels and demons. This is a conflict that goes back to when Man was first created and a select group of angels were chosen to watch over Man and the Earth. After seeing Man’s actions over time, a portion of those angels deemed Man unworthy and rebelled, led by Semyaza. They were defeated and cast out of heaven with Semyaza being imprisoned until the Day of Judgement. This rebellion was prophesied along with it being written that one day a man with true-blood parents would restart this war and allow evil to rise again. This would be due to the piece of chain imprisoning Semyaza taken by 13 fallen angels being in the hands of this man. So in preparation of this, the 13 fallen angels melted the chain down into 13 coins and spread them throughout the world to cause mischief and destruction throughout history. All of this is connected somehow to John Pozner, who has been experiencing visions lately. And with the recent uptick in violent crimes there seems to be a lot going on behind the scenes that reeks of supernatural activities. John Pozner may not know the role he’ll have to play in this upcoming battle but the forces of good may need to recruit him very soon or risk defeat.

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    I was really intrigued by this series after reading the premise, and the artwork sold me. It wasn’t that the notion of fallen angels was unique or even the role that a human could play in their grand scheme. It was the entire package from the interesting characters to the competing organizations using supernatural abilities set in the gritty streets of NYC. And the explanation of the significance of the 13 Coins at the beginning of this issue was killer. It was clear and exciting. And the introduction to John Pozner was in the mold of the classic anti-hero, and since I’m a basketball fan this made it even better for me. The introduction was thorough in that it gave a sense of how his current life was going, his personal connections and therefore an idea of what was important to him. That would pretty much be it for him this issue but the events that would unfold would be very engrossing as a battle would wage in the streets revealing players on the 2 sides and their impressive capabilities. It would turn into a full-blown battle betraying the impression that these were forces operating in the shadows. Despite that I still found the sequence to be enjoyable overall. However there would be very few answers about how any of these events would directly connect to the original premise including the main character. And so I’m looking forward to the next issue where some of these answers should be given.

     

    SUMMARY

     

    13 Coins #1 is a good start to the series as its entertaining premise is laid out along with a satisfying introduction to John Pozner’s life. And the action in the second half of the issue is intense and gives a solid idea about how far the competing organizations will go to complete their missions while also creating an intriguing story. However, these different story threads felt disjointed because no answer was given about how they tie together and so I’m looking forward to see how that unfolds.

     

    Release Date: 10/22/14

    Writer: Martin Brennan, Michael B. Jackson

    Artist: Simon Bisley

  • Rating ( 8 )
  • Total score 8.0

2 comments

  1. T-Go Co Games (@TGoCoGames) - October 23, 2014 5:47 PM

    This one looks pretty cool. If it pulls itself together story-wise I’ll go and check it out, so I’m waiting on your recommendation!

    Reply
    • Kareem Ali - October 28, 2014 11:44 AM

      Yeah, it was pretty cool. Individually the different parts have potential but I need to see how it comes together

      Reply

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