3 Keys #5 // Review
A couple of stylish, young hipster girls and a couple of anthropomorphized big cats tangle in the big city as writer/artist/colorist David Messina’s 3 Keys reaches its fifth and final issue. Color assists come courtesy of Alessandra Alexakis. Messina manages a bit of sophistication in and around the edges of a largely action-based series finale. And though the series is clearly over, Messina has created a very appealing world that has such a distinctive look that it’s difficult to imagine it fading away entirely. It’s been such a vivid dream in page and panel. How can the whole thing be over in only five issues?
Sonia and Jacob and Theon and Noah are meeting up by the light of the full moon in New York. Sonia is Noah’s cousin. Jacob is Theon’s former master. Things are complicated between the four of them, but there isn’t really much to discuss. It’s kind of difficult to discuss anything. There’s a lot of aggression between them. Words might not be as effective as ridiculously large swords. And since Jacob and Theon aren’t exactly visible to the general public, the conflict is going to look pretty strange to anyone looking on.
On the surface, there REALLY isn’t much to the story in the finale. It’s just a couple of girls and a couple of supernatural beings going at each other with sword, fang, and claw. There IS something deeper that sneaks in around the shadows of the finale, though. There’s something quite clearly being said about nightmares, reality, and perseverance through the horror of everyday life. It’s not a terribly sophisticated sort of theme...tacked on as it is at the end of the series without much lead-in, but it adds some depth to what could have easily been a pretty vacuous story otherwise.
What it lacks in thematic depth, the final issue of 3 Keys more than makes up for in visual style. There aren’t many panels in the entire issue that wouldn’t look perfectly fine as posters or desktop wallpaper. Messina’s line work and frame composition are breathtakingly precise and passionate straight through the final issue. There may be the occasional moment of awkwardness or stiffness in an action pose here or there, but for the most part, Messina takes the series out with style and poise.
Messina has worked on a profoundly big canvas for the duration of the series. Lovecraft’s writing is real and dangerous for a group of young women living in New York. While it IS huge, Messina limited the five issues of the series to a relatively small cast of characters. There’s so much more that could be done in the world of 3 Keys that could be great fun to explore if Messina was given the opportunity to do so. It would be interesting to see what he might do with the style in future issues if he ever decides to explore the concept more fully.
