BELLE: LABYRINTH – Review

BELLE: LABYRINTH, from Zenescope Entertainment on May 18th, 2022, takes Belle to Greece and the legendary Maze of Tartarus. She seeks the maze’s prize – an ancient key with the power to free her mother’s soul.

The Details

• Written By: Dave Franchini
• Art By: Rodrigo Xavier
• Colors By: Juan Manuel Rodriguez
• Letters By: Taylor Esposito
• Cover Art By: Jeff Spokes (cover A)
• Cover Price: $5.99
• Release Date: May 18, 2022

Was It Good?

BELLE: LABYRINTH is the latest in a series of one-shots detailing the exploits of Zenescope’s top heroes in a loosely connected arc. Building on Belle’s previous exploits, she’s now entered a phase of her heroic career where her focus is to find a way to free her mother from eternal damnation. How does this adventure stack up? It’s okay.

There’s no intention to be flippant with “okay” as an overall assessment. That word simply tells you everything you need to know about the general feel of the issue.

Belle heads to Greece to take on the fabled Maze of Tartarus looking for a magical key that would presumably help free her mother’s tormented soul. This setup is ripe for mixing classical mythology with modern superhero fare, but the net result is vanilla. Belle finds the super-secret entrance to the maze in plain sight. The monsters she encounters in the maze are formidable, but you know Belle comes out of it intact, so the stakes are lacking. And the ending gives her a slight twist on the status quo, but nothing mind-blowing as of yet. In short, this is a standard adventure with minor thrills without consequences or stakes.

In fairness, the plot of Belle’s larger arc does move forward a little. Not a lot. Not by leaps and bounds. But the game pieces shift enough to feel like the story took a step or two forward.

The art is fairly good but for one down point. The character designs look great. The monster renderings are clean, detailed, and present as menacing. And the color textures are excellent. The down point is in the lack of shadows inside an ancient, underground maze. The entire book is bright. Too bright. Which takes away the feeling of disorientation and fear that should come from winding your way through a massive maze only lit by torches.

Keep scrolling for a closer look at the covers, or Click Here to jump right to the story description with some spoilers.

What’s It About?

[SPOILERS AHEAD – Click here if you just want the score without spoilers]

We begin with Belle, Mel (and Hershey the turtle) arriving in Greece by hitching a ride on a C.H.I.P. ship as a return favor. Belle has come to search for a magic key that holds the secret to freeing her mother’s tormented soul, and that key lies at the heart of the fabled Maze of Tartarus. Mel is determined to use the trip as an excuse for badly needed R&R, but Belle is all business.

Belle and Mel visit the “official” maze ruins, and Belle finds a wall inscription that points to the true maze within the maze. Later that night, she returns to the same spot with gear on and unlocks the maze entrance with her power. Once inside the maze, Belle is forced to fight a variety of monsters to reach the prize she seeks.

We conclude the issue with multiple heads, multiple axes, and unexpected prizes.

Keep scrolling for a closer look at preview images of the internal pages, or Click Here to jump right to the score.

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