Crimson 13: Life Sentence

Script: Brian Augustyn
Pencils: Humberto Ramos
Inks: Sandra Hope
Colors: BAD@$$
Letters: Richard Starkings and Comicraft's Saida Temofonte

Summary/Review:
This amazing issue starts with a beautiful cover featuring the angel Zophiel. I don't know what it is about angels but there is something about Crimson's that have a quality that really appeals to me. So obviously I really enjoyed this story. The introduction of a new character who wears the Crimson logo tattooed over her right eye makes me wonder where this title is headed. Fate and destiny play a lot in the lives of the Crimson cast so I think Zophiel is going to be a major influence in upcoming stories.
Angels are around us everyday but we can not see them, what if you could see them and they were worth a lot of money to certain people? The elite Dragon Order of the Templar Knights is willing to pay a high bounty to anyone who can capture and harvest the blood of an angel. Greedy hunters using high-tech equipment see this opportunity to make some easy money and proceed to subdue an angel for the reward. Zophiel, whose close friend is taken down to Earth, does not appreciate their barbaric butchery, and she sets out to avenge his death. An angel's role is to act as guardian to humans never able to become directly involved in their lives, so she finds Alex to do her bidding for her. When he is unwilling to do so she takes over and ends up committing the one unpardonable sin which results in her being brought before a heavenly council. Zophiel reacted with human emotion and it results in her being marked of her crime and punished by casting her from heaven and making her walk amongst humans on Earth.

The story in this issue was able to make me feel Zophiel's anger over what had happened and I understood her need to avenge her friend's death. Zophiel's actions were reasonable and not excessive, the hunter's crimes were punished with equal measure of the behaviour that he displayed. But of course the council should enforce the will of God.
My grade: A

Review by: Adam Pascoe