Have you ever bought a book and held on to for almost a
month, just in time for the next issue to come out? Well that’s what happened
to me with this issue which is a shame because it’s really good. Issue #3 ended
with a big reveal of sorts and frankly as good as the first three issues were
they were just the warm up to the meat of the story. The fourth issue really
kicks things off as it pulls back the veil of the world more.
To refresh the President and First Lady were killed by someone
using magic at the end of the last issue. Now our story begins with an
unhappily married husband and wife starting their day at each other’s throats. The wife is saddened by the news of their deaths, but the husband
callously says that he didn’t vote for him so he doesn’t care. The news
continues informing people to stay at home as “strange” events have been
reported everywhere. The hate filled wife is the only one to catch this as her
husband leaves for the day and is soon killed by a flying car.
Our ragtag group has finally made it back to the church and
is filled in by the ex-Brotherhood member Samuel. He seems to have all the
answers which he’s instantly called out on, but it’s clear that he has someone
feeding him information. He hypothesis’ that Garrett Hick’s is responsible for
the assassination, which we know to be true. Lena wonders off again and Darius
is quick to follow. They share a teen moment right before the institution goons
track them down again. They use magic dampening technology to fight against
them which results in both of them getting captured.
As I said before the story truly feels like its beginning.
Magic is spreading throughout the world and now a bunch of untrained magicians
are causing chaos around the country. Hicks is making his power play, but
there’s still something that isn’t being given to the reader which keeps it
interesting. I do wish that the main group could be broken up a bit more, if
feels like they’re forced together at this point and really there should be a more
organic way for them to separate rather than a kidnapping. It’s acceptable
though, because they’re still not sure which boy is responsible for the return of
magic.
The art continues to be just as strong as the story with pencils from Rebekah Issacs. Her art style really compliments Jon Price’s story with
only a few road bumps along the way. The kids look too old compared to their adult counterparts. The story alludes to them being in their early teens, but
they look far older than that. Issacs does a fantastic job of taking the one
scene characters at the beginning of the story and adding as much personality
as she can for their small role in the story. It really catches your attention
and shows the chaos the world is in.
This issue really improved from the last and it’s good that
the story is working into the second mystery of the series as the first has
finally wrapped. This book has a different feel than the rest of the 12 Gauge
books due to the fact that the action isn’t non-stop. It has a formula for when
the action appears, but the story is good enough that you’ll never notice
unless you’re looking for it. The fourth issue really reminded me of how much
I’ve enjoyed this series and you can bet that I won’t take a month to read the
fifth issue.
Overall Score – 8.7/10
*New Readers might be
a little lost at first, but the story recaps enough to start from here*