Amethyst #2: The Crystal Starts Breaking

Amy Reeder returns for another do-it-all Amethyst issue, this time with a lot more emotional narrative. In the form of flashbacks, we’re getting a glimpse of what might be wrong with Gemworld, and again it seems to have something to do with how Amy Winston’s childhood was an idolized adventure saw through very different eyes of those of the princess now.

Then we accompany Amy and Phoss through their journey, from the briefly seen and hostile land of Sapphire to the ship that will carry them to reign Aquamarine. It’s in that ship when we meet Phoss’s girlfriend, Elba. And let me say they make an adorable dynamic for a comic couple, with Phoss showing off to her and her following around with her joke. Those are some cute panels from the issue, and ones that surely helps us relax and smile while we get ready for the heavier part of the story.

Amy gets the ability of being inside various Amethysts in various parts of the world (multiverse?), and then we come to realize a big plot revelation regarding her people and her grief. While said revelation is certainly a vague and ambiguous add to the story, it will surely impact in how this comic keeps deconstructing the “magical princess” complex and the “perfect story of good versus bad” narrative.

Artistically, this issue is even more expressive, with the characters speaking their feelings with just their faces: from Amy being mad at Phoss’s jokes, to Phoss and Elba’s adorable relationship and over-expressed interactions, to specially the faces of Amy in the grief scenes. Again, colors, shapes and scenarios seem to go with the emotional narrative. When Amy is rejected in House Sapphire and falls down the hole, we feel trapped in that fall. Then, we get a calming, playful scenario at the ship, that gets disrupted only at the end. The cover, with Amy breaking an Amethyst and screaming, pretty much feels like a perfect fit for the heavier part of the issue.