Focusing on the positive, Brian Denham’s artwork is absolutely gorgeous in this issue. The ongoing back-up story from Bill Williams is also great. I’ve been looking forward to reading it every month. The only other positive I can think of is that these stories are technically out-of-continuity; because Joss Whedon has not been a collaborator on the Angel title since After the Fall wrapped (After the Fall is the official 17-issue storyline that takes place after the Angel Season 5 finale).

While part of me will miss Denham’s artwork, I think Elena Casagrande is a good fit for this title. The characters are easily identifiable. While there’s nothing on the page that will probably blow you away, there’s also nothing on the page that will disappoint. With a start like this, I expect big things from Casagrande in the future.

This issue is completely packed with action and story. It felt like more than twenty two pages of story to me. Sejic’s illustrations are absolutely gorgeous and tells Marz’s story nearly perfectly. The battle between the Angelus and Darkness is one of the most beautiful and colorful fight scenes I’ve ever seen in a comic.

Barbara Gordon has gotten the band back together, and there are some new faces throughout the book. In addition to the line-up featuring Oracle, Black Canary, Huntress and Lady Blackhawk, the team is bringing in some new talent. Hawk and Dove are joining the team and to be honest I still have no idea why.

As for Daniel Acuña, I’m sure plenty of fans really miss his work in the X-Men Legacy book, but I’m very happy to have him working on Black Widow. While his style may be polarizing, I find his work to be a great fit for this type of book. I’m certainly not opposed to him staying on this book for many issues to come.

Harms told a rock solid horror story in this book and it was paced very nicely but Matt TImson is really the star of the show. He may be an extremely slow artist but the man was perfect for this book. The panels were stunning and I would gladly pick up future issues of this book should Top Cow open up the piggy bank to fund a volume 3.

Overall I really liked Blake’s artwork on the issue except for the monster that attacks Patience near the end of the issue. I thought there was a lack of detail and he seemed rather awkward. I will say Blake was very consistent throughout the issue. My only major complaint with the overall visuals is that the colors don’t seem to fit the tone of a Magdalena book.

Like every other issue, there’s also some very stunning interior artwork. Gugliotta not only drew some very consistent characters and sequential artwork but the backgrounds and layouts were equally stunning. To top everything off the colors were fantastic and definitely helped capture the characters and their environment to its utmost potential.

Overall this was a very strong issue leaving me wanting more. It was one of the best one-shot stories that I’ve read in quite a while. It was also a great change-of-pace to see Jackie solo while trying out some new abilities. Since the beginning of Top Cow’s Darkness stories, Jackie’s abilities have usually involved his darklings. As much as I love the little guys with filthy mouths, it was great to see something different.

With this issue, Stjepan Sejic is back to true form, which is very refreshing after reading a few issues that didn’t feel quite up to his usual high standards. After seeing Sejic illustrate supernatural and crime noir stories for a couple years now, it was fun to see three issues of cyborgs and robots fighting.