The Illegitimates #4 Review

Will the Illegitimates come any closer to finding Dannikor or their mothers? Read on to find out.

The official description from IDW:

The Illegitimates go tropical as Dannikor’s deadly plan begins to unfold! But, can these five newbies bring down the man who murdered their father before it’s too late? Meanwhile, what is orbiting the earth and what do the Illegitimates’ mothers have to do with it? The adventure continues in the fourth chapter of the Illegitimates’ inaugural mission!

The Illegitimates keeps growing on me issue by issue, as despite this issue being ever so slightly worse than the last, the overall atmosphere is simply alluring. The main thing that appeals to me about this series has to be the characters with their personalities showing more and more from issue to issue. This along with the team building lessons that the characters go through and it’s hard not to like them, as each character brings something different to the table.

Taran Killam and Marc Andreyko once again produce a terrific espionage focused script, with the Illegitimates quest to find Dannikor and their mothers getting even more interesting. The duo do however fail give us any real development to the story as a whole, as despite having a suspenseful and exciting tempo the group don’t really get much closer to their goal. In spite of this the issue somehow manages to be as enjoyable as any of the previous issues and if it wasn’t for this unfortunate annoyance the issue could have easily have been the best yet.

Kevin Sharpe‘s art was once again outstanding having a very lively feel to it. As usual his layouts are superb, giving the kind of cinematic tone that has it feeling like a James Bond style film at times. The way that he handles the characters emotions also give a lot of tone and atmosphere to the story with animosity between M’Chumba and Lordsley being very dramatic and intense. Add in the terrific scenery, the inks from John Livesay and the vibrant colours from Peter Pantazis and it’s clear that this series has a brilliant art team.

The Illegitimates continues to grow as a series as despite the lack of overall development dropping the quality ever so slightly the character development and overall exciting tone has me itching for more. Recommended.