By Cat Wyatt
This issue of Twisted Romance (sadly the second to last in the series) contains three short stories. Like the last issue, the first story is the longest (Invincible Heart), the second story is a text only tale (The Last Minute), and the last one is a shorter and lighter piece (Olivia Lies, Pierced).
I’ll admit it took me a little bit to get into Invincible Heart. I think it was the lack of colors that really threw me off in the beginning (though the line art is actually quite fantastic). It follows the story of Justin Rao and his pursuit of a troublesome privateer group called the Alecto. Now, you may be wondering what this has to do with romance, trust me, I was too.
It was surprising how quickly they successfully captured Domhnall. What’s weirder is the fact that his ship had no crew on board, despite it being impossible to pilot without a larger team. Clearly there’s something going on here (I’m personally of the opinion that Domhnall helped the rest of them escape, and stayed behind as a sufficient distraction).
Regardless of Domhnall’s motive for being captured (and I have no doubt that at least that much was intentional) the romance part of this story is quickly apparent upon his appearance. You’ve at least heard of the trope where the prisoner falls in love with his or her captor, yes? Well this tale flips that trope upon its head and runs away with the idea. Domhnall is a sexy man, and he knows it. So does Justin Rao (and unfortunately for him, Domhnall also knows that). It’s pretty clear that this is going to be a game of Domhnall seducing while Rao tries to resist.
I won’t give away the whole plot, but I will say that the story does have some cute moments, as well as some stressful ones. I don’t normally like the prisoner/captor romance tales, but this was at least a pleasant twist on the whole idea, which I appreciate.
As mentioned above, the artwork isn’t colored in, and you can clearly tell that everything has been done in pencil. I tend to prefer fully colored or inked images, but I have to admit I’m still impressed with the quality of work shown here. I can see why the editors decided no further editing was needed, all things considered.
The Last Minute is an entirely text-based story, like in the last issues we saw. Once again I struggled a little bit to get into it, even though I knew a wall of text was coming (thus I can’t use surprise as an excuse this time, oh well). Still, it’s a wonderful story about human connection and how much each of us can survive through.
The final story Olivia Lies, Pierced, is a really cute and fun story. In a way it reminded me of an alien version of the Redwall series (please tell me someone else here has read them, else I’m going to start feeling old). The names of both characters do a pretty great job of implying their rank and differences, without having to outright say them; Olivia Featherstone and Klaudoscu Accha Lazares Belesich Konstantinscu, Eighth Heir of Vauteil (yikes, try saying that one ten times fast).
Their friendship (and budding romance) defies all logic and odds, which is what makes the whole story feel so nature, despite the odd environment, stories, and looks. The characters themselves are quirky and silly, and very clearly in desperate need of playing out the frustrations of their lives (hence all the games and antics). They’re cute and endearing, in spite of everything. As evidenced by the fact that they pretty much get away with murder at times (not literally though, I promise).
I absolutely love the artwork for this story. Granted, I’m a little biased because I’m a huge animal fan, so any portrayal that uses animals in it gets bonus points from me. But I also really enjoy the style itself, as well as the quality (simple most of the times, but detailed when called for) and the color palette (it almost reminds me of a watercolor painting).
Score: 3/5
Twisted Romance #3
Image Comics