Pherone
Written by Viktor Kalvachev, Jim Sink and Patrick Baggatta
Art by Viktor Kalvachev
Image Comics
Release date: September 14, 2011
Hardcover: $24.99
Trade Paperback: $14.99

Pherone is a story about a woman named Eve [no relation to our very own Empress] who was trained as a killer to take on various missions and then at the end forget all about it until the word “pherone” is spoken. This is achieved by using a drug that is injected into the operative’s neck. Eve always has the same cover of being an escort on her missions. When the target is getting ready for a night of passion, Eve is getting ready to torture and kill the person for information requested by her handler, a man named Simon. Not only we do we see Eve’s side of the story, but we see the side of the story from the police detectives who are investigating the deaths of Eve’s victims and who come so close to catching her only to have her slip away.

The writing in this story is fair, but not amazing. I think Viktor Kalvachev has a good premise for the plot and story, but he does not deliver that well because there is a lot going on with the book and characters that are thrown into the mix and we don’t even know how they really got there. I understand that this was Kalvachev’s first major work like this, but I can see why it only really ran six issues.

Now the art on the other hand is awesome and I think that is where Kalvachev really makes his mark bringing a Sin City-like style to the artwork drawing it mostly in black and white and throwing bits of color in here and there. I think Kalvachev is by far a better artist than he is a writer.

All and all, Pherone is an all right book, but I wouldn’t rush out to buy it at my local store, I would rather get it out of the library for free. While I may not care for this book, others might find it really cool. I give Pherone a two out of five, the artwork is incredible but the story in my opinion lacks in so many ways.