As I said last post, I thought Christy Marx was a great choice for the new Amethyst series. She’d written a previous sword and sorcery comic I liked, Sisterhood of Steel, and she’d worked on the Conan the Adventurer cartoon, which I liked a lot (not REH canon, but a lot of fun).
The series (with art by Aaron Lopestri) was a disappointment. For starters, Amy in this version is sixteen: Not bad in itself, but frustrated teenage heroes are a dime-a-dozen, which can’t be said of the old thirteen-year-old Amy. I’m guessing that as Amethyst’s a hero on Earth too (she appears in Justice League Dark) DC needed her older.
Amy’s frustrated because she and her mom are constantly on the move, never staying in one place, and perpetually broke. Finally we learn why: Mom is a refugee from Gemworld where her sister usurped the power of House Amethyst. When the time is right, as it finally is, they get to return home.
And once they do, we get several talky issues. Very talky issues. Lots of info-dumping about Gemworld, lots of ominous threats and pissed-offness from the evil auntie, but no action. And as Mom is the one with most of the magic, Amy gets even less action than that (seriously, who thought it was a good idea to have the protagonist stuck with Mom as a chaperone). The only action is when Amy saves a schoolmate from a rapist in the first issue (I really liked that bit for proving she has the Right Stuff) and when she goes back to Earth for some super-heroing. Otherwise we have to wait until Eclipso (an old DC villain) shows up revealing himself the bastard child of two Gemworld houses. Apparently Auntie was just a placeholder until the real villain showed up, so now we get some action and Amy finally gets her full power. Too little too late for me.
By comparison, the original Amethyst series had one issue with a lot of information (Amethyst attends a wedding and meets the other leaders of Gemworld) but that also had a Dark Opal scheme and a zombie carrying it out. The series was never dull. Marx’s Amethyst, it was the default setting.
Maybe after that initial ramp-up it would have gotten a lot livelier, but as Sword of Sorcery died with #8, we’ll never know.
So maybe nobody but Mishkin and Cohn can do Amethyst justice. I’ll be happy if I’m wrong, though. And in the meantime, Showcase Presents Amethyst is a TPB collecting all their stories of the princess, so check it out. I think you’ll be pleased.
(Cover art by Ryan Sook, rights with current holder)
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