Wherein the gang struggles with everyday life.
Creative Staff:
Story: James Tynion IV / Script: Tate Brombal
Art: Isaac Goodhart
Colors: Miquel Muerto
Letterer: Aditya Bidikar
What They Say:
Christopher, Dracula Boy, and the rest of our teenaged monster team are rescued by a mysterious sewn-up giant and teleported to safety, but the group is split on how to go back to normal in a world of monster hunters who want them dead.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Having enjoyed a number of James Tynion IV’s work previously, but not coming completely on board just yet with all of their stuff, this series has the story by him with Tate Brombal handling the script. I’ve enjoyed a few of Brombal’s other works in the last few years and they definitely put together a solid opening issue here to get us engaged with the character and basically perform a solid informational introduction. The artwork brings on Isaac Goodhart for it and they definitely capture a distinctive look for it, especially with Miquel Muerto’s color work and the pop of our leading character’s hair and outfit, but they also put out some dynamic action pages while making the dialogue comes across quite well and engaging – in no small thanks to Aditya Bidkar.
The way in which the story continues to move is one of the more frustrating aspects for me with this work because there are so many elements at play but it jumps all over the place and pretty haphazardly. This issue, for example, gives us a bit more time with the Helwing folks at their headquarters and we get a nod to the higher power running things and some of the politics of the players involved in it. But none of it makes sense as there’s a weird disconnect where things don’t feel like they’ve been explained. I can figure it out in my head well enough but there’s a gap in the execution for this where it’s so much so fast that it’s hard to really take it in and take it seriously. It also doesn’t help that none of the characters operating out of the Helwing side are actually interesting or even noteworthy at this point. It’s just a strange cult-like enemy of all things placeholder material.
While the episode starts and ends with Jesse and doesn’t actually do anything to get us to connect with her, she does at least see our core trio being whisked away buy a Frankenstein’s monster-style man we later learn is named Adam. He basically rescues them and tells them to go back to their normal lives because Helwing is too powerful for them. The problem is both that Helwing won’t stop coming after them and then as we see, they can’t go back to their normal lives. We get to see all of them trying to do so after being dumped back in town and Chaos struggles to explain to his mother what’s going on with him while Jordi is just blanking out because his family dynamic is so chaotic and nobody really listens to him. Viveka is still struggling over things with Hayden and that just leaves her feeling lost. So it’s no surprise that they all end up back at Adam’s looking both for refuge and answers about what’s going on.
In Summary:
With this being a miniseries I usually stick with it throughout the run because, well, that’s how I’m wired. The next issue isn’t the finale but the events of this one make it clear that the book isn’t for me. I was intrigued by the opening issue and curious where it went with the second, but it’s execution in both of those and what’s happened in the third and fourth installments just aren’t my jam. There’s a lot going on here and some neat ideas but it’s throwing so much so fast so as to keep you engaged with it that it doesn’t feel like it’s telling a coherent story but rather a series of things happening that are loosely connected. There’s a lot of potential with what’s here and I really like the designs and artwork but it’s just not coming together well. Perhaps it’ll read better in a collected form without breaks and as a whole.
Grade: C
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: September 27th, 2023
MSRP: $3.99
