A pattern emerges and Herihor’s power and one weakness are revealed. Is it good?
Resurrectionists #4 (Dark Horse Comics)
Fred Van Lente begins Resurrectionists #4 on a light note with some humor via an infomercial. The star is Greg Lennox, and the commercial is reminiscent of Jordan Belfort’s The Wolf of Wall Street except instead of trying to get rich quick, Lennox offers to protect your wealth even after you have died. The humor really preys on the idea of preppers and an impending catastrophic event. There is even a short jab at superhero films!
The story switches focus from Lennox back to our protagonists as they attempt to awaken their partners, specifically Mac. The Scout drops a ton of information regarding the names of the Resurrectionists in Egyptian lore and their English translations. The quality of the dialogue comes from Mac’s reactions as he listens to the Scout’s story. He is completely skeptical and believes her to be insane or at least disturbed and even questions Jericho’s mental status. It is great because it is how a typical person would react to the information being conveyed to them.
Van Lente takes us into the first trip to the past in the current timeline and it is a good trip. He is able to capture the beginnings of Mac and Jericho’s friendship, but also depict with Maurizio Rosenzweig’s help the emotional low Jericho is experiencing. However, the fight sequence did get a tad confusing. Rosenzweig’s usually stellar panel layouts jumping back and forth between past and present threw me for a loop. Instead of the Resurrectionist channeling a past-life it was their attackers, and somehow they were able to bring a weapon from the past into the present (OK, it is really still technically the past, but you get the point).
This fourth installment also struggled with transitions especially when going from the present to ancient Egypt and back again. The first transition goes from Mac and Jericho in jail plotting how to piss people off to Tao hunting down a scribe in order to change his identity. The first transition leads you to believe a glimpse into ancient Egypt will hint at how they might piss off their fellow inmates; this is not the case at all. The transition out of Egypt is not any better jumping straight into the sequence that landed Jericho in prison.
Rosenzweig’s artwork takes a little different tone in the jail sequences highlighting his shading abilities to reveal the emotional toll Jericho took during his trial and his first few days in prison. He does continue to deliver on some spectacular pages especially toward the end when the Scout recounts the recurring pattern the Resurrectionists find themselves in. He shows off three of the timelines in columns spanning the entire page and then has a full page revealing how the Scout was unlocked with her past lives revolving around her in a counter clockwise motion. It really emphasizes the concept of time that is so fundamental to the entire story.
The book ends back in ancient Egypt with a turn for the worse for the Resurrectionists, who face a brand new villain and his ferocious pets. This ending scene does highlight Moreno Dinisio’s colors and his use of light. He creates an ominous tone with a sickly green color on the floor and a red light reflecting up out of a pit. It puts you on the edge of your seat and leaves you guessing as to how the Resurrectionists are going to get out of this situation.
Is It Good?
Resurrectionists #4 explored a little bit about Jericho Way and Mac Gardener’s history together, while also revealing a little more about who the Resurrectionists are. There were some odd transitions when going back to ancient Egypt that did not flow with the rest of the story and there was one page where the panel selection was a tad confusing, mainly because the Resurrectionists’ powers have not been explained.
It was an enjoyable read overall and the ending created quite a bit of suspense and tension and reveals how well Fred Van Lente and Rosenzweig have created their characters because you fear for them.
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