Meet the cast of Aphrodite V…

Aphrodite V #1
Writer: Bryan Hill
Artist: Jeff Spokes
Covers: Jeff Spokes; Natali Sanders
Publisher: Image Comics
$3.99

I’m not as familiar with Bryan Hill’s work as I probably should be – I can practically hear Armand screaming as I type this – so I am coming into Aphrodite V brand new. I choose the book because the cover looked interesting and the blurb that Image put out about the book sounded like it might be in my wheelhouse. Well. Let me say, I am one hundred percent here for this book. Starting off with a bang, Hill takes us immediately into the world of Martin, a genius billionaire and Hui-Men, his right hand woman, as he tries to privatize world peace, or at least Los Angeles’ police force. Martin, much like Tony Stark, has his heart in the right place, however he fails to take into consideration (also like Tony) the long term consequences of such a plan: it’s one thing to actively give your tech to law enforcement to help them better do their jobs. It’s another to try and make them a privately funded corporation.

Unfortunately for Martin the pushback he’s getting to his plans is the least of his worries, which is where Aphrodite V comes in. Hill takes a character, originally created in 1996 by David Finch and David Wohl, and drops her into the middle of Martin’s mess in the most spectacular fashion. Quiet, kind and lethal Aphrodite just wants to be and, in just a few pages, Hill manages to make you want that for her too. However, now that these three have met, the chances of any of them having peace anytime soon just went from slim to none.

All of this is wonderfully enhanced by Jeff Spokes artwork. With a premise like this: sexy cyborg assassin and sexy personal security guard protect hunky billionaire, it’s very easy to go, for lack of a better term, cheap. Instead of the usual we get three characters who look like people you’d meet in the real world – really hot people you’d meet in the real world – but real looking nonetheless. It’s the little things that make it stand out, such as drawing the female form the way it actually looks, not the way people who’ve apparently never touched a woman in real life think it looks. On top of that Los Angeles is wonderfully rendered, becoming a character in itself with how much life Spokes puts into everything that’s going on in the background.

All in all Aphrodite V #1 is a rocking first issue and I’m looking forward to reading issue 2.

5 cell doors out of 5.