Just finished reading my second Prime Earth trade and first foray into PE Etrigan. There are pros and cons. The art is good. Etrigan is drawn with a traditional Kirby base with a few personal flourishes. The supporting cast is much the same, with Belial being the only one with more creative licence taken, but even that isn’t dramatic. The violence is delightfully immersive.
The writing is less consistent. The story has a good hook with decent tension and stakes, but the ending is unfortunately a convenient reset that leaves the reader feeling cheated and a little confused on what elements have actually be set to the status quo.
I could only discern one distinct New Earth reference amongst the new continuity; when listing places they have spent time, Los Angeles was mentioned which is the setting for The Demon: Driven Out, unless PE has reused the city elsewhere. The other references to character histories are PE exclusive, mainly regarding Xanadu and the Demon Knights. It’s heavily implied Etrigan and Nimue were an item at one point and I have no love for Etrigan having a romantic side. This was uncharacteristically The Demon for me.
The dynamic between Etrigan and Blood’s bond is mixed up for flavour. As this isn’t anything new, I had no problem with the writer exploring something different with that aspect. Etrigan has also gone between rhyming and talking, but not switching back and forth within the same story as occurs here. I am not in approval of this experiment in which Etrigan rhymes because he feels like it or not. I would have much preferred Etrigan to only speak normally in this tale as Andrew Constant, the author, is not very good at rhyming dialogue. He also uses the incorrect pronunciation of Belial, but I recall even Alan Grant did that too, so I can’t hold it against him.
Blood and Merlin felt true to their previously established characters, but it was a whole new Xanadu for me though, who I assume takes a more active roll in PE. Lucifer even makes an appearance but far from his NE or Vertigo depictions. Two members are also added to Etrigan’s family tree but swiftly eradicated (or perhaps not, considering the nature of the ending which is not clear.)
I did enjoy it overall up until the weak resolution. There were some memorable panels but no real noteworthy quotes, which is a shame for a Demon book. With consistent dialogue from Etrigan and a clever ending this series would have ranked higher, but my overall score would be 6/10.