Writer: Evan Dorkin
Artist: Veronica Fish
Layouts: Andy Fish
Lettering: Andy Fish
Colors: Veronica Fish
Cover: Veronica Fish
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Spoilers
Well, we have come to the end of this four part series, at least I think we have, but it is actually somewhat difficult to tell. Blackwood #4 opens with a ton of action and ends with a bunch of characters, both alive and dead, just sitting around. It had very offbeat pacing throughout the whole, and this issue was no exception.
I wanted to like this series, very much. It looked like something I would love, but the plot was just either too typical or hinting at something that never delivered. The ending was just a bunch of telling, without the kids actually figuring it out, and furthermore, there wasn’t enough foreshadowing or clues in the other three issues to make the ending meaningful. I wouldn’t call it predictable, but it just didn’t seem to matter, which really sucks. Maybe the story would have benefited by being a lot longer, since I barely got to warm up to the characters before it was over. So much background was hinted at, that was never revealed and that was a little infuriating.
The art was consistently pretty cool. Although there were some panels that seemed a little off, it was, for the most part, the best thing about the series. Props yet again to the awesome cover (even if it featured a character we knew very little about).
The lettering seems to be very inconsistent throughout this issue. Sometimes, the bubbles are much larger than they need to be, or the text is way too small; other times the bubbles are all crowding upon the letters, which look like they want nothing more than to escape the madness of Blackwood. I think that a whispering effect was the goal for some of these, but it didn’t seem all that successful to me.
I hope that the creators all jump off into big waters in future comic endeavors and take Blackwood as a learning experience.
Overall: 6/10
Tee LaFrance Todd writes, edits, reads, explores, and creates whenever she can find the time. When she’s not engaged in some form of storytelling, you can find Tee traversing the world with her husband and her dog, making things, reading tarot cards, and generally striving to live a life beyond anything she can imagine.
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