Zenescope Entertainment 2016
Written by Pat Shand
Illustrated by J.G. Miranda
Coloured by Ceci De La Cruz
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 has broken free. infighting within robyn’s group has divided the heroes, who are unable to prevent the four horsemen of the apocalypse from breaking free. now, as the horsemen march, can robyn bring her team together to take down this cataclysmic threat?
This is all kinds of awesome. Pat has this whole writing a large cast of characters into a story down pat. There’s a enough focus on everyone this issue that no one feels left out and the story itself doesn’t feel compromised because of the number of people in it. With Hades having been attacked and incapacitated by one of the Horsemen and Liesel off to tend to him this brings their numbers down. That is until Marian discovers that the kids from Arcane Acres are in the city and have captured one of the Horsemen!
Well to be fair Polly has captured him but she’s with the kids so. With each appearance of Polly her eccentric nature comes out more and while I should find it maddening it’s actually kind of endearing. Almost as if on cue Robyn and her relationship with the Commissioner is the same way. The way the writing here is by Pat really does showcase the complicated relationships the characters have with each other and it’s good stuff. The characterisation and the situation together have made them show who they are and their honesty through it all is rather refreshing.
I’m also really enjoying the interior artwork here as well. Miranda and Ceci make a nice team and the way the colours are used is pretty impressive. As is Miranda’s eye for storytelling, using the page layouts through angles, perspective and even backgrounds. The sense of motion and action is there and that’s great to see. I also very much appreciate the attention to detail in the work that Miranda brings to this.
One of my highlights in all this is Cindy. I mean she’s working with Robyn but we all know once this is all said and done she’s going to be who she is. Heck even now she’s still acting like the psychopath that she is and isn’t making apologies for it. We’ll never mistake her for an antihero and i’m more than okay with that. I think her ever shifting allegiance according to the danger level is what makes her so much fun, that and her dialogue and attitude just can’t be beat here.
There’s no rule you can’t have a serious story that needs most if not all the denizens of the Zenescope Universe to combat and not have it be fun at the same time. The balance and the way they are dealing with these threats is pretty impressive to me. There’s a reason we love Pat’s work and he’s in rare form with this one. So hang onto your hats kiddies because the bumpy ride is going to get a lot more intense if what we see and learn here is any indication!