Belle comes from a long line of Beast Hunters. Can she live up to her family legacy or is she going to become the hunted. Find out in Belle #2: Oath of Thorns!

BELLE #2: OATH OF THORNS

Writer: Dave Franchini
Artist: Derlis Santacruz
Colorist: Juan Manuel Rodriguez
Letterer: Kurt Hathaway
Editor: Dave Franchini
Publisher: Zenescope Entertainment
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: September 11th, 2019

Previously in Belle: Anabelle “Belle” DiMarco has joined an organization known as Cryptid Hunting Intelligence Program, or C.H.I.P., and is finally able to relax a bit. Despite now having a plethora of new allies, will she be able to defend the world against the beast or will she stumble under the pressure?

NO TIME FOR REST

The story starts in the C.H.I.P headquarters where Belle has brought in Uncle Louis who has just returned from a traumatic event in a previous issue. Louis is having an episode and seeing things that do not exist and the Doctor’s begin to try and restrain and sedate him. Belle becomes overprotective and attempts to fight off the doctors but is quickly sedated as well. Anabelle wakes up restrained but is released by Patricia Otts who explains that Louis is still in shock and needs time to recover. Belle’s best friend, Mel, comes into the scene to watch Louis while Belle reluctantly gets ready for her next mission.

Belle is equipped with a new supersuit that comes with an underwater breathing apparatus and is introduced to a new teleportation device that Otts has set up. Armed with her trusty axe she prepares for her mission; to trace an energy signature and see if it can help Louis or poses a threat. Following the signature she dives into a lake to reach an underground cave system. She reflects a little bit about her brother who left their home and turned into a monster and seems to be her main motivation for becoming a superhero. She suddenly stumbles across a beautiful underground city. While here, her communication devices are shut unable to gain a connection with C.H.I.P. and she is quickly ambushed by an amalgam of a human, snake, and spider creature. After defeating one of the monstrosities she quickly finds herself surrounded and begins to retreat further into the city. Upon entering the city, she sees life size stone statues and a Medusa type monster waiting for her.

CHARMING BUT STRAIGHT FORWARD

Belle #2 has a fairly linear storyline that tells us about a world that mankind needs protection from. When you have a storyline that we have seen often, it is a question of what you bring to the table that will entice readers. For this story, I admit I’m not sure what is fairly unique about it. Anabelle is a fairly interesting character but we see what appears to be another coming of age story. It is my belief that the strength of this novel comes from a pretty solid writing style and well drawn and well colored art

I do want to talk about a theme for a brief moment. I think the main focus of this particular issue is what to do when you are being pulled in multiple directions. Belle struggles with how she should help Louis but ultimately decides that the show must go on instead of being at Louis’ side. This is an idea I struggle with constantly. Do I work or do I spend time with my family? When my relatives were sick I struggled with going to work over being at their bedside. Annabelle was able to overcome this very quickly and I place that on her age because I believed that she would be able to go on the mission as easily as she did.

BOTTOM LINE: SOLID

There are a lot of good things here and if you want an easy read I strongly suggest this. Anabelle has depth and is well written and most importantly you want to root for her. 3 stars out of 5 for me.

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