In BELLE: KILL ZONE, from Zenescope Entertainment on December 15th, 2021, Belle and Mel stumble across a recon mission that puts them at odds with the God of War himself, Ares.
The Details
- Written By: Dave Franchini
- Art By: Alvaro Feliu, Luca Colandrea, Eman Casallos, Igor Vitorino, Thiago Gomes
- Colors By: Juan Manuel Rodriguez
- Letters By: Taylor Esposito
- Cover Art By: Felix Morales, Ivan Nunes
- Cover Price: $5.99
- Release Date: December 15, 2021
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Was It Good?
BELLE: KILL ZONE is one of those odd one-shots where you can see the story has potential, you get an above average amount of setup for stories down the line, and there’s some cool moments in between. However, this story does feel like more setup than story, the plot is rushed in spots, and the art is, to be blunt, terrible. Lots of good, lots of bad, all mixed together for an amalgam that’s less than the sum of its parts.
Focusing on the good parts, Belle is introduced to a larger magical/mystical world beyond the mythical beasts she’s used to fighting. It’s a net positive when an established character’s world is expanded because the door is opened for storytelling potential and variety. Through the introduction of Ares, we learn that events have been transpiring right under Belle’s nose, and that revelation (again) expands the world and gives readers the sense of discovery. Intermixed with all the story and revelations are several cool action set pieces.
Readers get a lot of story, which is a positive and a negative. Franchini skipped several plot points around how Belle got into her situation and the relationship between Mike and Ares. You persistently feel like there was more to the story that you’re missing and that the book needed another six or more pages to make the story feel complete. As it is, it feels rushed with key points happening off-panel and briefly addressed via caption boxes.
Perhaps the inconsistency in the writing could be glossed over, but one thing that can’t be ignored is the terrible art in this issue. As you can see from the credits, there’s a small army of artists on this book and it shows in the worst way. The transition from one artist to the next is jarringly obvious. The quality from one artist to the next is wildly off, and the net result is a one-shot that looks great in a sparse number of pages while everything else looks like amateur indie.
Say what you will about Zenescope, they have a rep for putting out consistently good-looking books. I don’t know what happened here, but it should not be repeated.
What’s It About?
[SPOILERS AHEAD – Click here if you just want the score without spoilers]
We begin with Belle and Mel tied up at the feet of Mike the cyclops, an old foe and local crime boss Belle has tussled with before. There’s little explanation as to how Belle got here or what was going on to to put her in Mike’s cross-hairs.
Mike suspects Belle of being a spy for a warrior he has his men drag in and dropped at his feet. The warrior, Borox, wakes up and activates a jewel hanging from his necklace that transports everyone in the room to an ancient castle. The castle is the stronghold of Ares the God of War. Ares orders Mike’s men disposed of in gruesome fashion. When Mike move to do the same to Belle, she fights back and Ares is impressed with her fighting spirit. Rather than kill them all, Ares orders Mike, Mel, and Belle taken to a dungeon cell for now.
The cell is not empty. Two warriors of the realms are there, transported to this castle recently by the Dark Princess during one of her sorties. The group joins forces, including Mike, to escape the cell, snatch the jeweled necklace from it’s store room to transport them home, and all without getting killed by a god.
We conclude the issue with most of that working out, Belle getting a temporary (maybe?) upgrade, and an epilogue cameo that makes Belle’s world even bigger.
Final Thoughts
BELLE: KILL ZONE is a mixed bag of cool ideas and cool scenes, but too much of the story is left out to get it to fit in the number of pages allowed, and the art is wildly inconsistent. This is a great one-shot if you’re only focused on the setup for future potential, but as a stand-alone offering, this is not one of Zenescope’s better offerings.
Score: 6/10
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