C.O.W.L. #4 Review

Will Chicago survive now that C.O.W.L. are on strike? Read on to find out.

The official description from Image:

As City Hall continues to threaten Geoffrey Warner, Blaze must find a way to unite C.O.W.L….even as John’s investigation brings a dark cloud over the organization.

C.O.W.L. just keeps getting better and better, with this world of sixties superheroes getting more alluring with each passing issue. Between Reginald and Geoffrey’s attempt to keep C.O.W.L.’s name clean throughout their recent strike, Karl and Kathryn’s extra curricular activities, and the general C.O.W.L. strike itself there’s plenty going on in this issue, making it much easier to find something to like about this chapter.

Kyle Higgins and Alec Siegel have been gradually building C.O.W.L. into a must read series, as though my opinions were rather different after C.O.W.L. #1, the series has grown abundantly in the short time since then. Having found very little to dislike about this issue, I have to give major credit to the writing duo. The way in which they set-up this average strike line, to then spread out into connecting high profile developments really impressed me, with the atmosphere throughout being very gripping.

Stéphane Perger joins regular artist Rod Reis on this issue, and despite both artists doing a wonderful job there is a noticeable difference between both. Contrary to Reis’ rough and gritty style, Perger delivers stunningly detailed pencils. This yin and yang effect makes the overall experience of the visuals to be a little less appealing, as despite the consistent colours helping to knit the two styles together, it does weaken the dynamic slightly. Despite this I did find the layouts throughout to be very lively, giving a dynamic flow to this exciting issue.

C.O.W.L. has been gradually turning into a must have, with the gripping developments of this issue sending it one step closer to that goal. Highly recommended.