Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Writer: Van Jensen
Artist: Pete Woods
Release Date: OUT NOW!
Price: $3.99

For one minute there I thought I’d stumbled into the world of Adult Only comic books because the main weapon used by the Nine Families who secretly rule the world in Cryptocracy #3 is a bra!

Then I realised I’d misread it, because the weapon in question is actually a Bras, a kind of bracelet that’s a sort of communication device that also manifests energy constructs such as weapons or tools. They really get miffed when you say it’s just like a Green Lantern ring apparently and, more practical though it is, I think my original interpretation may have been more fun! Lingerie misunderstandings aside, this is your basic doomsday saga. Nine prophesies foretell the end of the world and the end of the Nine Families along with it. It seems the secret rule of the Nine Families began when the defeated a being called Chronos and now he’s coming back and boy is he mad. The first prophesy has already come to pass courtesy of some mystic hermit type dude called Hum. No, that’s not a spelling mistake, he really is called Hum which is not exactly a name to strike terror into the hearts of anyone, but a snake-headed staff that can cause earthquakes kind of makes up for that.

Cryptocracy #3 is a glorious mishmash of talking bears, moth monsters, aliens, secret societies and ancient prophesies made flesh. It ought to collapse under the weight of its myriad ideas but somehow it pulls it off thanks in no small part to Pete Woods superlative artwork.

Trying to keep everything and everyone straight in Cryptocracy #3 will be almost impossible, but just roll with it. If their heads don’t explode from the sheer imaginative output needed to keep this colossus on track, Van Jensen and Pete Woods look set to serve up a modern classic.

 

 

Reviewer: Gary Orchard
Reviews Editor: Steve Hooker