By Jarred A. Luján — Artemis and the Assassin #1 from Aftershock Comics debuts this week. I became a big Stephanie Phillips fan with Butcher of Paris, so I’ve been following this story pretty closely and watching it get described as a pulpy time travelling spy book was a hook all by itself. I mean, come on, that’s a pretty insane description.

The thing I like about the first few pages of Artemis and the Assassin is that it hits the ground running. It opens up the time travel aspects, really leans into its science fiction roots. It does a really good job of establishing a little bit of character history, a brief taste of who these people are and what they want, before it lands us in the middle of Nazi-occupied France. The tone shifts and this feels more in line with a spy thriller. Here, again, we see that really solid character intros, just a little bit for us to know who they are, but not everything about them. There’s secrets. There’s a reason for us to keep picking up the book to find out more and more about them. I think it’s really handled well.

When the two stories collide at the end, that’s really the bread and butter of this series. The two stories feel legitimately separate up until that point, but their union feels plenty organic. It leaves me really wanting to dive into the next issue. While it’s an exciting hook, I’ll admit that issue #1 left me a little disappointed with that wide separation up until the literal last page. It doesn’t feel like our plot has really taken off, that our story really begins in issue #2. It’s a little bit of a bummer, but because of how great the character work is, I don’t think it’s a dealbreaker by any means.

The short stinger at the end is really something fun and intriguing. So much of this is so ambitious and so vast, that I think it’s all really setting up for a wild ride. There’s so much about our characters and their place in this world we don’t quite know that keeps me intrigued.

I really think the art team is spectacular, too. The panel layouts are dynamic and fun, while the action sequences are really fun. I’m never going to complain about a full page splash explosion! In particular, the sequences with Virginia are golden. The way Virginia carries herself in public versus when she’s alone is visible. The tension and relaxation scene I felt really got that across super well. I feel like I talk about this a lot, but I always feel like the real mastery art moments are the subtle ways emotion/tension are displayed, something that is handled here incredibly well.

Overall: While we don’t get the full blown pulpy time travelling spy plot just yet, Artemis and the Assassin #1 offers up a set of characters that are as exciting, mysterious, and fun as the world they inhibit. There is a ton of promise here and a team that is completely capable of executing it. 8.0/10

Artemis and the Assassin #1
Writer: Stephanie Phillips
Artist: Meghan Hetrick & Francesca Fantini
Colorist: Lauren Affe
Letterer: A Larger World’s Troy Peteri
Publisher: AfterShock Comics
Price: $4.99
Solicit: What happens when a time-traveling assassin and a spy from 1944 try to kill each other? For a price, a top-secret assassination organization will travel through time and interfere with watershed moments. Trained as the agency's top assassin, Maya is sent to kill Virginia Hall, the deadliest spy of WWII. Charged with carrying important plans about the invasion of Normandy to the Allied troops, Virginia's death would have a cataclysmic effect on WWII as we know it.

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Jarred A. Luján makes comics, studies existential philosophy, and listens to hip-hop too loudly. For bad jokes and dog pictures, you can follow him on Twitter.