Kill the Minotaur does not finish well. It finishes with a Predator “homage,” a lengthy, rushed fight sequence, and a twist at the finale.
The worst part about the issue is how long writers Pasetto and Cantamessa take. Most of the issue is just Theseus and Ariadne fighting the creature. Artist Ketner loses track of them, which is the first time in the series Ketner’s art didn’t save the day. The script’s just too erratic for art to help it.
It’s a bad finish for the series, which didn’t need anything outrageous to end well enough. Ketner had been keeping the series afloat until this point. All they needed to do was make it to the finish. And they don’t. Pasetto and Cantamessa flop big time.
Kill the Minotaur does not finish well. It finishes with a Predator “homage,” a lengthy, rushed fight sequence, and a twist at the finale.
Kill the Minotaur has run out of narrative momentum. Writers Pasetto and Cantamessa throw in at least three surprise reveals for the Athenians stuck in the Labyrinth and a few more for those outside it. The reveals spin up interest for a panel or two, page at most, before they become inert. The momentum is gone, at least for the story.
Writers Pasetto and Cantamessa have a lot of words this issue. Lots of exposition, lots of talking back and forth, blah, blah, blah. It’s not a talking issue, it’s an action issue. It’s a leading up to action issue. It’s pages and pages of good Ketner art before they get to the fight with the minotaur and then Ketner really gets to unleash. Kill the Minotaur has a decent enough script, but it’s Ketner’s fluid, energetic characters who keep it going.
The beginning of the issue is labyrinth intrigue. The minotaur is hunting assorted cast of victims. Ketner’s art is awesome, his pacing is fine, it’s the writing failing to click; art’s awesome. But Paseto and Cantamessa really can’t make the writing compelling. The characters are too thin and unlikable. Oddly, when there’s more exposition in the second half, the writing is fine. The ending’s obvious, but once they’re questing and not actioning? Kill the Minotaur compells. Ketner’s art, the setting. It works.
With most of the action taking place in the Labyrinth, this issue of Kill the Minotaur takes a more supernatural, more horrifying turn. Writers Pasetto and Cantamessa play it for slasher suspense, teasing out ideas, hinting at eventual imagery, then going for twists in the revelations. They’re winnowing down the supporting cast while establishing some backstory. The issue moves well–it’s all action, save the prologue–full of tension. Great art from Ketner. It’s hard to know where Minotaur will go next, but if this second issue’s any indication, it’ll be somewhere unexpected and good.