A week late but not a dollar short, I finally tracked down a copy of Sigil #1 and had to share my thoughts.

It was not what I expected. Nor particularly what I wanted. There exists a glut of teenage girl heroine titles, coming into their powers, roles and responsibilities, and the new incarnation of Sam Rey seemed little different to any of those. Maybe I’m expecting a little much from a first issue, but for such an eagerly awaited issue (personally at least, and I can’t be the only one), I feel a little let down.

Now, maybe I am being too much of a stick in the mud, but to me the essence of Sigil was a hard science fiction, mysterious new worlds and sheer determination; not high school, a bully’s love life and pirates. Even the ‘mystery’ of what happened to the new Sam Rey’s mother that was hinted at during the last few pages failed to engage me. Oh, and the fact that she woke up with the Sigil tattooed on her chest as if it was something new, covered it with a polo neck top but neglected to even think about it or refer to it in any fashion whatsoever in the face of the peril of a history test rather stole the magic from what I would have expected to be a central part of the story.

Don’t get me wrong, for new readers this will be a lot of fun.  But for the original CrossGen readers, well, don’t get your hopes up too high. Maybe in a few issues time, my opinion will have changed. But then surely the task of a first issue would be to engage me? It’s alright making things approachable for the new readers, but aren’t longtime fans like myself a pretty safe bet to spend our dollars on this title?

I hold out better hopes for Ruse, which was always a shining gem in the CrossGen stable. But as much as I like some of Mike Carey’s other work, I just can’t be convinced on this one. Issue two better have to spectacularly unique concepts, plot twists or world within it, or I’m happy to let CrossGen fade into fond memories.

If Marvel wants to relaunch something, how about the Ultraverse?