Butterfly #3 of 4
Archaia
Story:  Arash Amel
Words:  Marguerite Bennett
Pictures:  Stefano Simeone

Spies are inherently dual natured.  I know I’m simplifying things, but in essence, there’s the spy portion of their lives, and everything else.  It’s the very dual nature of spies that Arash, Marguerite and Stefano bring to life in Butterfly, and they do it so well.

We really get to see the dichotomy of Nightingale:  Hardened Protector and loving family man.  He loves his daughter, but has to protect her.  He loves his new family, but has to protect them as well.  And neither daughter nor family can know exactly why he’s being pursued.  When we see him embrace his son is about as honest as he allows himself to be with his family, and it’s endearing and sad all at once.

We see also the juxtaposition of Butterfly as she attempts to come to grips with her father and her situation.  Before finding him, she was a no nonsense agent.  Smart, efficient, and good at her job.  Now she finds herself feeling like a teenager again dealing with her father and feeling hurt, and mad, and joy and love all at once.  In her attempt to regain a measure of control, she may have ruined her chances of making it out of this situation alive.  I really liked her moment of reasserting herself in the situation to take charge of her destiny.  It wasn’t a call I saw coming, and it didn’t have the results I saw coming either. 

Even the way this tale is being told embodies this dual nature.  We get the forward moving tale of Butterfly as she moves forward with her dad and new found “family” while trying to figure out how she got to be where she’s at.  We also continue to get the reverse telling of her father Nightingale’s story, as he remembers how he arrived at his present circumstance.  And I totally dig that those two stories aren’t interspersed with each other, but told one after the other.    We get to see Daughter and then Father’s tale… and each sheds light on the other.  This is such a good book, I’m kind of sad there’s only one more issue left.

5 out of 5 Toy Dinosaurs