Frank Miller’s Pandora

In this jumbled, fitfully tantalizing graphic novel, noir comics creator Miller (Sin City) trips into the dark fantasy genre with artist Emma Kubert (Stoneheart), and cowriters Maranville and Silvestri (the Star Trek: Discovery series). Annabeth, a teenage artist, butts heads with her wrong-side-of-the-tracks family and her mother’s seedy boarders—except her sage grandfather, a fellow nerd. One morning she ventures into the woods near their house in search of birds to sketch and meets Knox, a mysterious and magnetic young man. Little does she know that Knox is a scout from a tribe of goblins embroiled in a war between magical realms. When Annabeth unwittingly attracts the power of a glittering item known only as “the relic” (“How can something so small and weightless carry within it the fate of so many souls?” the goblins marvel), magic invades her world in ways that first seem beneficial—the bullies at school turn pleasant—but soon become sinister. The narrative leaps over character development and forgoes explanations of its plot turns, giving the proceedings a rushed feeling. Kubert pulls off some art elements effectively—namely, the glimpses into secret realms and the horde of “baby demon elves” who track Annabeth—but her human characters are often stiff and inconsistently proportioned, and her thick, scratchy inking lacks dimension. Despite some moments of magic, this disappoints. Agent: Silenn Thomas, Frank Miller Presents. (Oct.)