Claudio and Ambellina face Wilhelm in The Amory Wars #9

In this final chapter of The Amory Wars, Claudio Kilgannon (The Crowing) and Ambellina find themselves face to face with Wilhelm Ryan, The Supreme Tri-Mage of the Keywork, while the Rebel army begins their assault on Apity Prime. The Amory Wars: Good Apollo, I’m Burning Star IV (Evil Ink Comics), story by Coheed and Cambria frontman Claudio Sanchez and his wife Chondra Echert, art by Rags Morales, colors by Emilio Lopez, and letters by Ed Dukeshire continues its epic journey.

The world that Claudio Sanchez created with The Amory Wars and its incorporation into his band’s music, rivals any tent-pole film franchise. Coheed and Cambria have been a concept-album band from the beginning save for their latest release, The Color Before the Sun. A handful of songs from their third EP (under their previous name, Shabutie), Delirium Trigger, were based on a science fiction comic book Claudio wrote called The.Bag.On.Line Adventures and then renamed The Amory Wars. The band also renamed themselves after two of the main protagonists in the story, Coheed and Cambria.

With not a single panel containing a still character, Morales’s art is a constant motion picture. Adopting a more demonstrative artform that lends itself to the motion picture-like scope of the story. Some of his best work comes through in panels consisting of zoomed in facial features like the one of Wilhelm on page 12 of the digital version. Morales has realism in his art that is apparent in the ages of the boy, Claudio and again in Wilhelm. Yes, as each character represents a different age group, they should look different. But capturing that aged quality isn’t always the most natural thing for an artist to accomplish. Morales does that exceptionally well here. My only complaint with Morales’s work is the unnatural over-sexualized female action poses we’ve been accustomed to seeing in comic books over the last couple decades.

Lopez’s work on the colors gels with Morales’s clean lines seamlessly. His use of lights and darks compliments each other, but at the same time, it’s as if they almost fight each other for your eye’s attention. In some panels they even bleed into one another which is highly effective in evoking the last bit of emotion. Overall, this particular story leans on the visual and not as much on the verbal. The dialogue is sparse but in a good way. It’s there when it is needed but allows the visuals just as much opportunity to tell the story.

Sampling a small slice of a vast story doesn’t precisely allow for a proper opinion. However, it’s not difficult to realize the grand narrative that Sanchez has constructed with his wife and co-writer Chondra Echert. For full effect, make sure to go back to the start. The Amory Wars: Good Apollo, I’m Burning Star IV #9 (of 12) will be available December 6th.