MYSTERE ANNUAL: SEEDS OF THE ABYSS, from Zenescope Entertainment on 5/10/23, finds Mystere with her hands more than full when one of Cthulu’s Starspawn starts taking over the minds of everyone in the Big Easy.
The Details
- Written by: Dave Franchini, David Wohl
- Art by: Renato Rei, Dario Tallarico, Sergio Ariño
- Colors by: Maxflan Araujo
- Letters by: Taylor Esposito
- Cover art by: Guillermo Fajardo (cover A)
- Comic Rating: Teen+
- Cover price: $7.99
- Release date: May 10, 2023
Is It Good?
MYSTERE ANNUAL: SEEDS OF THE ABYSS is a perfectly okay annual starring Zenescope’s resident necromancer. Continuing Zenescope’s year of Lovecraftian horrors, Mystere is tasked with confronting a tentacled nightmare that acts as a harbinger of the Old Ones’ return. Filled with mystical battles, ghosts, demons, and history, this annual does what it sets out to do.
The highlight of Franchini and Wohl’s script is the interesting history of the Old Ones’ arrival on Earth, their first conflicts with humans, and the foundational establishment of all future Lovecraft stories to come. Lovecraft’s tales typically describe the Old Ones after the fact, meaning Lovecraft’s characters encounter ruins, ancient books, and artifacts millennia after the height of the Great Ones’ presence. This annual is one of the rare times when the Old Ones are portrayed in all their glory, and Franchini and Wohl tell the legends clearly and with reverence to make Lovecraft fans proud.
The present story centering on Mystere is not bad, but it’s only just okay. Mystere encounters a Starspawn and receives help from the souls of ancient warriors to stop the monster in its tentacled tracks. The action is energetic, Mystere’s journey to (temporary) victory is well done, and the conclusion is relatively satisfying.
Where this annual struggles is partly in pacing and partly in character work. With regard to pacing, there are a few spots where the conversations take longer than needed, so the energy dips in a few spots. Those dips don’t last long, but it feels like hitting periodic speedbumps on a smooth road. With regard to the character work, Mystere has to be continually pushed to rise to the occasion by her supporting characters. It’s like pulling teeth to get Mystere to do her heroic part, and it’s strangely off-putting.
How’s the art? It’s an average to above-average Zenescope house style, which is still one of the best house styles in the industry. As you can see from the credits, multiple artists are a red flag, but in this case, the transitions aren’t noticeable enough to be a problem. The figure work and action are great, and Araujo’s coloring is fantastic.
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What’s It About?
[SPOILERS AHEAD – Click here if you just want the score without spoilers]
We start with a prologue showing to amateur monster hunters looking for a trophy in the swamps near New Orleans. They find what they’re looking for in the shape of a tentacled creature – the Starspawn.
Elsewhere, Mystere breaks up a lovers’ quarrel involving a jilted wife who summons a fiery Hell Hound to get revenge on her cheating husband. After the row, Myster seeks advice from Sybilla about an artifact she found at the scene, and Sybilla warns Mysters about a quickly growing mind-control evil spreading through the city.
Mystere heads out to investigate and finds mindless hordes of New Orleans citizens heading toward the Aquarium to worship at the base of a massive water tank holding the growing Starspawn. We conclude the issue with a way, way, back flashback, a new team, and the promise of more tentacles in the future.
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Final Thoughts
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MYSTERE ANNUAL: SEEDS OF THE ABYSS depicts the next Zenscope hero to encounter a Lovecraftian horror, and it’s a doozy. The art is amazingly consistent for a book with multiple artists, and the overall plot is rock solid. That said, the pacing struggled to stay up at points, and Mystere spent too much time resisting her role as a hero.
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