Creative Staff:
Story: Evan Dorkin
Art: Veronica Fish & Andy Fish
Letterer: Greg McKenna
What They Say:
The Dark Wisdom conspiracy is revealed as the traitors make their move, and a sentient mass of interdimensional organ meat invades Dean Ogden’s funeral. Making matters weirder, Chimp Ho Tep is on the loose and out for revenge, even if it means harpooning a student or two. The fur flies–as does the flesh–in the fiery finale of our four-issue frightfest. Phew!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
While I definitely enjoyed earlier installments of Blackwood overall and the Mourning After series started off with some promise, the pandemic really didn’t do it any favors. The third issue came out in May as things started to get back on track with retailers and distribution, but the fourth and final issue didn’t land until September, just over three months between issues. Which has been common for a lot of books that are struggling to get back on track. But it’s not great for a finale for a miniseries nor for a property that had a gap between series to begin with, working with a lot of characters that haven’t been around long enough to really cement themselves in your consciousness. Evan Dorkin has a great concept to work with here and hopefully there’s more in the future, especially since Veronica and Andy Fish made it look as great as it does.
As a finale, the book does largely what it needs to. We’ve got the large sentient mass of goo that’s attacking everyone that’s impervious to attacks itself. It’s amusing watching these highly skilled magicians and the like using all the tools of the trade to go against it only to have nothing work. And even worse, to have its tendrils slither out and grab them, squeezing them like a Go-Gurt. There are a lot of open positions available after this event is over in the larger hierarchy. The goal is a good one in protectin the bones but eventually the goo wins and swallows the coffin whole before it can zap out of there. It’s definitely the weird moment of the bad guy wins but it’s all in favor of setting up for a future storyline that I hope we do see.
The other side of the book, when it doesn’t have our favorite students running around just trying to stay alive because they are not capable of fighting the sentient goo, focuses on Avery and his gang as they’re after their thing. Which has Avery donning the mask deep in the school and reciting the spell that gives him a lot of power, albeit at the cost of some of his gang being flayed alive. We do see how he’s achieving his goals of gaining more power but it takes a few weird twists before he eventually comes across the students themselves who ended up in the library while trying to help someone else. It’s a good confrontation that has a kind of bad luck element to it for all involved and it plays out like you’d think it would if this were an 80s comedy movie involving the dark arts.
In Summary:
Blackwood: The Mourning After draws to a close with enough teases at the end that it has plenty of places to go. The biggest, in my mind, being that it might actually focus on the students a little. I think they got lost in the shuffle this time around after a strong opening miniseries while here it was just a lot of chaos and action, which is fun to watch unfold but problematic when the issues are spread out over most of 2020 because of the pandemic. I really like the concept, characters, and artwork for the whole thing but the distribution problems really made it hard to connect with this run, something that those that pick up the trade won’t have to worry about and hopefully have a better experience with.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: September 9th, 2020
MSRP: $3.99
