The Twilight Zone #8 – Review


Diana Westby has been blessed — or cursed — with the ability to see the future. And man, is she being annoying about it.

Here’s the official world from Dynamite:

Diana Westby has tried to avoid doing what she knows is necessary to stop a terrorist attack because she knows that in so doing, she would have to pay the ultimate price. Where do you turn when there’s no one you can trust, and no one who will believe you, and millions of lives are on the line…including yours? In the fiery fourth-act conclusion to the second Twilight Zone arc, Diana.

After a relatively solid start Michael J. Straczynski’s latest arc, which features a throw-away character TNTZ08CovFrancavillafrom his original storyline, took a strange and preachy twist with issue #8 as Diana Clark decided what to do after having a vision that NY would soon be under attack. While the premise of a psychic predicting danger is nothing new (see Dead Zone), Straczynski’s usually innovative twists felt absent in this current issue. Yes, there are some cool scenes as Diana wrestles with the question of what to do — should she feel NY before the attack, or try to stop it herself? — but overall, the issue takes a strange turn when Diana comes face-to-face with the architect of her new gifts. I won’t spoil the big reveal, but know this: it feels like a homily. And suddenly all the careful pacing that Straczynski has laid out in the last few issues feel lost.

Despite all this, Guiu Vilanova’s art feels more sophisticated here than it has with any other issues. The stiffness of his earlier attempts is gone, and Diana is rendered beautifully and thoughtfully throughout. And there’s some awesome car crashes, too.

While it’s true that the Twilight Zone has always been a veiled morality tale, this latest arc forgot that one essential element: the creepy storytelling. What a bummer.

OUR RATING
6
- Great Start, but Preachy Finish + Solid Art

S#!T Talking Central