It’s Getting Real In Here — Reviewing ‘Minor Arcana’ #9
by Scott Redmond
Overview
Good efforts with the townspeople aren’t enough to ward off dark tidings that move ever closer to Theresa and others. Each issue continues to provide dynamic intrigue, giving this little world such bold fulfilling life.
Overall
9/10Sometimes life throws curveballs that we can anticipate. Other times those vicious pitches come out of seemingly nowhere at all.
Theresa St. Pierre’s mysterious abilities are helping people, but a darker current is threatening to consume them all in Minor Arcana #9. The latest in this mystical saga from Jeff Lemire, Letizia Cadonici, Patricio Delpeche, and Steve Wands.
How this series has grown and shifted in just nine issues really speaks to the storytelling power involved. Our protagonist still has a lot of room to explore and grow but her overall presence is so different from how we met her. Lemire has a clear vision for this series and the character development chops to make it all dynamic.
This tiny slice of the world we’re being introduced to is so lively and intriguing. There’s still tons to explore and become clear, as Lemire takes his delicate time really building it up. It’s not just Theresa though as others are becoming more ingrained into the story, with mysteries, intrigue, and drama of their own to explore.
There is a real openness to the style of Cardonici’s work, delivering a smoother aesthetic than the opening arc, but one that still really hits hard on the rougher elements at play in the story. The art keeps the right tonal energy through and through, as the town and inhabitants are given dynamic depth at all times. Sharp edges and faded lines play into the overall series tone in the best ways.
So does the lighter color palette at work- Delpeche has been the one guiding much of the color elements of the series, delivering an appearance that befits whoever is doing the main story artwork at any point. Keeping the colors more in a middle tonal range builds the more familiar realistic kind of appeal, leaving some of the more vibrant bit for the more supernatural elements encountered.
All of the same visual energies mentioned above play their role with the lettering. Wands allows every voice and moment to have its own energy, space, and agency, hitting all the emotional depth with such ease. He lets the words flow across the page as they should, adding that small little punch that gives them even more impact.
Minor Arcana #9 is now available from BOOM! Studios.
