The Amory Wars
In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3 #9 (of 12)
Created by Claudio Sanchez
Written by Claudio Sanchez and Peter David
Art by Aaron Kuder
Colors by Zac Atkinson
Letters by Johnny Lowe
Cover by Chris Burnham
Evil Ink Comics/Boom! Studios
Price: $3.99
Release Date: March 30, 2011

The Amory Wars – In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3 starts to move into its last leg and you can tell. Claudio Sanchez and Peter David turn up the excitement in this issue, while beginning to wrap up the 12-issue miniseries in the best way possible.

The issue starts as all others have with the narration by main protagonist Claudio Kilgannon explaining the events of the book to Apollo, the dog of former girlfriend Newo Ikkin. But in this issue, you can tell there is something different. Something has changed within our hero. And that something is Claudio finally realizing and confronting his fear, and his necessary acceptance of his growth into the protector against the ultimate villain, The Supreme Tri-Mage Wilhelm Ryan. While the turning point for action was a couple of issues ago, issue #9 is the turning point for the characters.

Claudio Sanchez and company have created an exciting, fun, and funny science fiction comic book from an extremely complicated story birthed in the music of Coheed & Cambria. This miniseries is loosely based on their second studio album which contained a lot of fans’ most favorite parts of the mythos, and one character in particular, Al The Killer. This issue features the first team up of Al The Killer, Claudio Kilgannon, and Ambelinna, the Prise, protector of Kilgannon, signifying the end of this series. And the end of the series is knock down, drag out, simply epic story telling, so it ends on a high note.

Artist Aaron Kuder‘s first issue on this series was in last month’s issue #8, but his art starts to get its footing in this issue and melts in perfectly with the script from Sanchez and David. He’s good enough that he keeps the art in the same style as the former artist, Chris Burnham, but his art differs enough that you’re able to tell that it’s him on the book, and in my opinion, that’s a good thing. I loved and still love Burnham’s art, but it seems that Kuder style fits better with the story that Sanchez and David have scripted.

It gets a bit complicated in some spots, and certain issues feature a good bit of exposition as a result, but In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3 is a blast to read. If you haven’t picked up any of the issues until now, you’re best bet will be to wait until the series is collected, but you won’t be disappointed. The Amory Wars is consistently an excellent read, so if you love large science fiction epics, you will enjoy this book.