It's been a long time since I thumbed through the pages of an issue of Sigil... about three years, in fact, when the first issue hit the stands. I didn't care for the property then, but I figured with a new writer and art team, it merited another look. The property is a bit stronger, but even with the synopsis in the inside-front cover, I found it was pretty inaccessible. On top of that, it struck me as being remarkably similar to another CrossGen title.
Samandahl Rey's crew are in a bit of a pickle. Their little ship is under attack by a Negation fleet, and it seems like the enormous flagship is out to swallow them whole. Without Sam and his sigil power at their disposal, the motley crew is forced to improvise and test the limits of their ship. Meanwhile, in some kind of void, Sam also finds himself without his sigil abilities, as the void has cut him from the source of his power. Without it, there's little chance he will survive his encounter with the Lawbringer named Xrtr.
Eaglesham's artwork seems to be much more detailed than usual here, and I have to assume that some of the credit goes to Hennessy's clean and meticulous inks. The double-page spreads really capture the immensity of the Negation ship, as well as the emptiness of the limbo into which Sam finds himself. The Lawbringer design is thoroughly creepy and alien, and it exudes menace. The slender, organic look boasts a strong manga influence.
Zanni, Jons and JeMerik's plight put me in mind of the adventures of the protagonists in The Negation. Similarly, that title focuses on a crew that's on the run from -- and opposes -- the villains of the Negation. There's conflict among the crew, and they all boast different abilities that come in rather handily. Honestly, it seems to me that there's little different between the two books, and based on my recent exposure to episodes of both, The Negation is stronger and more accessible of the two.
One of the irksome elements of this book is that the exchange between Sam and the Lawbringer points to larger plotlines in the CrossGen Universe, and I'm honestly not interested in them. I've always felt that when CrossGen books look beyond their core characters and worlds, it weakens the storytelling. I honestly don't care about the sigils, how they're linked to the First or how Negation agents came to be so familiar with them.
