Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld (1983) 4

Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld (1983) 4

Aug 1983

Dark Journeys!

by Dan Mishkin, Gary Cohn, Ernie Colón, John Costanza, Tom Ziuko, Karen Berger

Princess Amethyst/Amy arrives back in Gemworld in Castle Amethyst. Citrina is still there but she has a glass eyed look. Her spirit has been captured by Dark Opal. Amethyst doesn’t know what to do. Fauna suggests that she should use her magic to help Citrina. She leans in to examine Citrina. A lizard like creature leaps from Citrina’s mouth and drags Amethyst away. 

Amy’s mother comes home and finds Herb, her husband, distraught over Amy’s disappearance. He explains that he saw her vanish in front of his eyes. 

Lady Emerald says a tearful goodbye to Princess Emerald her daughter. The princess is taken away in a carriage that will deliver her to Carnelian. 

Granch finds his siblings but they don’t greet him warmly. He gets stuck in the underworld with them when the tether he was counting on to lead him back to Gemworld is broken.

There is a two page interlude set in another realm of Gemworld, Topaz. The ruler and his two adult children talk about what Dark Opal is up to but don’t seem ready to confront him. They refer to Princess Amethyst as the true monarch of the Gemworld. Prince Topaz says some admiring things about the beauty of Princess Amethyst. His sister reminds him that he is betrothed to her friend Lady Sapphire. 

Princess Amethyst arrives in Dark Opal’s castle. She uses her magic to try and defeat him but he is too powerful on his home turf. She manages to redirect a blast he fires at her and uses it to free Citrina. The two women combine their magical forces and teleport back to Castle Amethyst.

Dark Opal reaches through the portal and grabs Amethyst but Citrina uses her magic to prevent him from abducting the princess once again. The portal closes before he can pull his hand back and he loses it. Amethyst is overjoyed with the outcome of the confrontation but soon her thoughts turn to Earth and her adopted parents. 

Thoughts

I'm not crazy about the cover to this issue. My biggest problem with it is the negative space. I wonder if originally there were more creatures chasing Princess Amethyst but it looked too busy so they "painted" over those critters.

There is some indication in this installment that there might be an operative of Dark Opal in Amethyst’s court, Fawna. She seems to take joy in seeing Amethyst suffer at the hands of Dark Opal although no one seems to notice that she is rooting for the wrong side.

I’m curious to see how Princess Emerald and Prince Topaz and the other nobles of this world play into the upcoming chapters of this story. I don’t think that Princess Emerald is happy to go to the court of Dark Opal but it’s hard to tell at this point. They have yet to provide a map of Gemworld.