It’s Dark and Love is Forbidden
Writer: Sarah Vaughn
Illustrator:
Lan Medina
Color Artist:
José Villarubia
Letterer:
Janice Chiang
Cover Artist:
Stephanie Hans
Cover Price:
$5.99
On Sale Date:
February 8, 2016
**NON SPOILERS AND SCORE AT THE BOTTOM**
We come to the conclusion of this six-part miniseries, told
in three parts for some reason. Maybe they figured it wasn’t going to make it
beyond three or four issues. It’s no secret that I’ve been kind of down on this
title, but I believe that each new issue is another chance to engage the
reader. The reader being, in this case, me. I do like a good horror yarn, and I
think for this final issue I’m not going to make such a big stink about Deadman
being an ancillary character throughout the story. He has been, and it’s
annoyed me, but it doesn’t necessarily mean the tale is uniquely bad. What would mean that is a low score from
yours truly! Does this issue get one? You’ll have to read my review of Deadman:
Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love Book 3 to find out! Or scroll to the bottom,
that works too.
Explain
It!
We pick up right where we left off the last issue, with
Adelia having gone all vicious smoke monster on Berenice’s beau, Nathan while
spectral chaos breaks out in the living room at Glencourt Manor. Or is that the
sitting room? I’m not sure I know the difference. Berenice, of course, is in
her ghost trance while her work husband Sam is positively freaking out. Now
that’s just being a bad hostess. Deadman is able to snap Adelia out of her
evil, and she poofs out of existence or whatever in shame. Nathan gets one of
his trademark headaches and goes to lie down on a couch…so I guess this is the
sitting room. While he snoozes, Berenice, Sam and Deadman sneak into Nathan’s
super secret office that no one else is allowed to enter. Except, of course,
Deadman could have entered at any time. In fact, he could have gone into the
room, done some reconnaissance, and reported back to Berenice without her ever
being in danger. But hey, what do I know about Deadman?
Adelia shows up inside the office, in her nice form but
still concerned that she might hulk out. Nathan’s office, of course, looks like
an arcane occultist’s library, and there’s no evidence of the book he’s been
writing. Unless it’s a collection of evil spells written on Pegasus wings and
bound in an imp’s flesh. Berenice starts thumbing through one of these
obviously horrific books when Nathan shows up and slams it shut! They have a
very low-key argument, as white couples do, when Adelia starts wigging out and
Nathan pulls out a knife! He goes after Berenice and Sam, but inadvertently
stabs himself in the stomach—but it turns out that his life is tied to
Glencourt Manor, and as long as it stands he cannot die. And that’s when Adelia
remembers!
If you’ve read the other issues in this series, you’ve
probably figured out what’s going on by now. But to make it clear, Deadman
jumps into Nathan’s body to find that he’s really Edward Ruskin, the guy that
built Glencourt Manor and killed Adelia in it like a hundred and thirty years
ago. He used some immortality spell that was tied to the Manor and killed his
wife as part of the ritual, then had to keep leaving and returning under
assumed identities, probably to pay the electric bill and check on the boiler.
When Adelia remembers, she goes bananas on Nathan/Edward, and Deadman stays
inside him—despite having to endure great physical pain, for some reason—so she
can flay him to ribbons. Meanwhile, Berenice and Sam set the Manor on fire and
Adelia creates an earthquake somehow, and everyone gets out just in time before
Glencourt Manor is destroyed. Even Deadman, about whom I wasn’t concerned
because he’s already a ghost. Nathan now out of the picture for good, Berenice
and Sam can admit their feelings for each other, and it looks like they might
go on to become traveling ghost busters or something? That will probably be
nice.
So Deadman aside—and he should be put aside because this
story really has fuck-all to do with Deadman—this is still a pretty lame,
overblown horror story. I like the bit about Berenice’s fiancée having been an
immortal wife-killer all along, which really was the only interesting part of
the whole story. I’m not even sure why Sam was there, except to provide
Berenice with a partner at the end. And something about a broken bowl glued
back together. This thing could have been told in three 20-page issues and it
probably still wouldn’t have been very good. The art remains uneven, but I have
warmed up to it. I definitely see how the coloring in particular creates a
certain mood. But this story is conceptually dull. Add some bland, talkative
characters and you’ll wonder why anyone bothered.
Bits
and Pieces:
This story took a little too long to come around the bend, and by the time we get to the conclusion it's a wonder we made the trip at all. Deadman is an afterthought in this series, but even on its own it's a fairly paltry horror tale. Sort of a mediocre romance tale. But that Dark Mansion! That's an architect's dream!
4.5/10
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