Dark Shadows #20 Review


The odyssey of avoiding a dangerous future continues here, but is the story beginning to ware thin?   Read on to find out.

The official description from Dynamite:

Barnabas Collins faces off against the darkest parts of his soul, in a war to change the dire fate of everyone in Collinwood. Will his allies stand beside him or will they be forced to sacrifice Barnabas in order to save themselves?

The latest phase of Dark Shadows has seen the protagonist torn asunder, with his good side trapped in a mirror and his wicked part out and about his friends and family are left to scramble.  The creative team has worked together to build the narrative and now the audience gets to sit back to see whether or not this motley crew of rashly assembled individuals can prevent some horrible outcomes.

Mike Raicht pens the script and the scribe does a tremendous job.  He knows these characters quite well and it shows, especially when we get to see the various pieces that he put into place finally germinate into some deliciously realized sequences.  I have to give the author a fair amount of credit because his evil version of Barnabus Collins is downright maniacal, even to the point that witnessing him waiting at someone’s door fills the room with sheer dread.  To sum it up: it’s another great entry that allows this tale to grow in all the right directions.

The art by Nacho Tenorio is versatile treat for the eyes.  He easily brings these characters to life by paying homage to their TV counterparts while building his own version of their reality.  It all falls into order, but something unexpected occurs as the situation and cast grows, I found myself easily following the personalities of the players.  In short: this portion of the affair easily raised the overall quality level.

Dark Shadows #20 is a comic that makes my job quite easy.  At the end of the day this review is a reflection of the tale I just read and the result is you should go out and buy it.  Highly recommended.

4.5/5

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