Zenescope Entertainment 2016
Written by Pat Shand
Illustrated by J.G. Miranda
Coloured by Hedwin Zaldivar
Lettered by Taylor Esposito of Ghost Glyph Studios
Last year, robyn hood and her friends defeated the cabal, an organization of ancient witches and wizards who were engaging in annual ritual sacrifices. however, with the cabal gone, the evil that they had been attempting to keep at bay threatens to break free. now that a full year has passed since the cabal was taken out, robyn must either stage a ritual sacrifice or face the apocalyptic wrath of the four horsemen.
See now this is why Pat should be writing pretty much everything he can at Zenescope because it’s just well some of the best writing around. The story is straightforward in that the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are coming and Robyn and her band merry men (and women) have to stop them. Only much like in the real world, or in Robyn’s case, life is one big clusterf@#k. There's no getting around the fact that the man has a way with words, is good at structuring stories so the flow the right way and can transition from scene to scene, segment to segment the right way.
Pat’s impressive run on the Robyn Hood and Van Helsing series’ prepares us for what he’s got in store for us here. However there is one character who steals the show and that’s Cindy. I don’t care that she’s an insane lunatic the bitch is a hoot pure and simple. How the heck she managed to take over Malec’s minions is beyond me and the dialogue she gets brings me so much joy. I really believed everything that Pat had her say. She’s also the only Zenescope character I can forgive for dressing that way because it really is just so her.
J.G.’s interiors are pretty strong here as well. The creativity and imagination we see in the opening is fantastic. I love that he can create creatures and have them appear humanoid till they deem it otherwise. Hedwin’s colouring really helps that come to life beautifully. The pacing of the story, the use of page layouts and the flow he creates are very well done indeed. His use of backgrounds that give off the bigger picture of where characters are at that moment is so appreciated. The emotion and atmosphere he can bring to the story visually keeps up with Pat’s writing.
There are more characters here that will play roles other than the core ones and that’s nice to see. This issue has a few twists and turns in the story so you think it’s going one way and one thing will happen when whammo nope sorry wrong number. It’s the little things that happen along the way that make this stick out like it does and keeps up with things that have happened throughout relationships with the characters histories.
This is a solidly told and illustrated story and reaffirms why I love the Zenescope Universe and those that dwell within it. The variety of personalities we see keeps us coming back time and again. So who’s ready for the Apocalypse Pat’s bringing? The Apocalypse you say and no we don’t need no Winchesters when we’ve got Robyn and her merry band of Monster Hunters!