Broken Trinity: Pandora’s Box #1
Issue 1 of 6
Written by Rob Levin and Bryan Edward Hill
Art by Alessandro Vitti
Cover Art by Tommy Lee Edwards
Top Cow
Price: $3.99; Release date: February 24, 2010

Marvel and DC have been getting most of the mainstream buzz over big event storylines like Blackest Night and Siege, but they aren’t the only game in town when it comes to crossover events. Top Cow has debuted several crossovers in recent years that have introduced major changes for their characters, and that trend looks like it will continue in 2010.

For those who haven’t been following Top Cow closely as of late, the trend began with a mini-series called First Born. That series saw the birth of a daughter to Sara Pezzini and Jackie Estacado, better known as Witchblade and The Darkness, respectively.

In 2008, First Born was followed up with a mini-series called Broken Trinity. This event established Witchblade, Darkness, and an angelic warrior known as Angelus as the three primary forces in Top Cow’s supernatural universe. Their individual weapons became known as artifacts and by the end of Broken Trinity we found out the three were not alone, and that a total of 13 artifacts existed in the world.

So that brings us to Broken Trinity: Pandora’s Box. This six-issue series picks up where Broken Trinity left off introducing two new characters — Finn and Gloriana — who each carry one of the previously unknown artifacts. Both characters want to find the artifacts but Gloriana is trying to gather the 13, while Finn is trying to stop anyone who seeks to unite the 13. The two pursue their opposing agendas even as a mysterious cult hopes to rebuild the eponymous device from Greek myth.

Issue #1 did a fairly good job of opening the story, although I should preface that I generally don’t like first issues because it takes me a while to get truly invested in the story. The mini-series will be co-written by Rob Levin (The Darkness: The Butcher) and Bryan Edward Hill (Broken Trinity: Aftermath), with art by Alessandro Vitti (Secret Warriors). Tommy Lee Edwards (Marvel 1985) will be providing covers for the series.

2010 will see the pieces fall into place of building towards an even bigger storyline as well. Last year, Top Cow announced at San Diego Comic Con that Broken Trinity writer Ron Marz would be penning a 13-issue mini-series called Artifacts. That series will deal directly with the 13 artifacts hinted at in past stories, and should begin shipping after the conclusion of Broken Trinity: Pandora’s Box.

I wasn’t blown away by the first issue but it shows potential to become something greater as the series progresses.

The Geek: Fantastic interior art by Alessandro Vitti and cover by Tommy Lee Edwards.

The Weak: Suffers from slow start syndrome. Didn’t leave me begging for issue 2.

Vactor’s Verdict: A 2.5 out of 5