Striking a most dangerous deal.
Creative Staff:
Story: Cullen Bunn
Art: Juan Doe
Letterer: Ryane Hill
What They Say:
The Mother of Monsters has risen…and she cries out to her children. The bonds of supernatural blood are strong. Will any of the beasts on Shrae’s Ark be able to resist?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The challenges facing both arks as they continue to survive the world as is definitely makes for some interesting choices to be made. Cullen Bunn has made this into quite the engaging series from the start and each new installment draws me in more and more, especially with the flashback sequences that enhances it all. It also continues to be beautifully illustrated and colored by Juan Do as the air of oppression and danger is fantastic. I love the look of the monsters and the coloring of the work as a whole but the nature of how the people look is really engaging with the rough and raw aspect of it all.
Here, we get some intriguing flashback material that’s split into two areas. The first is that we get Khaleis bringing Janris to her father’s workshop that she’s not supposed to be in and it’s in there that we see the large stone tablets that represent the various monsters, though it’s likely that that’s them in this form. It furthers some of the mystery of how the monsters were collected which leads us into the second flashback piece later on as we see how Shrae and a group of warriors went with him to bring back Kruul. Kruul isn’t exactly interested in any of this, however, preferring seemingly to die if he doesn’t survive on the high ground that he’s in. It furthers the idea of just how Shrae’s master is orchestrating things for the future and what he wants to survive.
In the present sense, things take a dark turn quick with Shrae getting flown out to where the mother of all monsters exists that’s threatening Noah’s ark. With a proper sacrifice in play there, Shrae’s confrontation with the creature that reveals itself to be Echidna is thoroughly fascinating as she’s the mother of all monsters in the true sense, descended from the titans of the past and there before the god of today and the devils below. The back and forth bartering of sorts is definitely a lot of fun to watch unfold as Shrae gives up a whole lot to protect Noah and his ship as part of his master’s larger plan. It isn’t presented as exposition but the way we get information sussed out over the history of the world and the place of Echidna in it, and her future as well, is really neat with what it adds to the big picture.
In Summary:
Dark Ark has another strong installment here as we see Shrae working the mother of all monsters in the present and forcing through what needs doing in the past with the ark and bringing the monsters together. I really like what we get from his daughter and her friend of sorts with Janris in adding more color to the project and knowing just what kind of dangers are ahead for her and all the others that Shrae has brought with him. There’s some real sense of danger about everything here and Bunn and Doe are doing a great job of bringing it all together so that each installment is thoroughly engaging while enhancing the whole.
Grade: A-
Age Rating: 17+
Released By: AfterShock Comics
Release Date: July 4th, 2018
MSRP: $3.99
