DC Horror Presents #4 – Patton Oswalt/Jordan Blum, Steve Kostanski/Brendan Hay, Writers; Danny Earls, Logan Faerber, Artists; Jao Canola, Simon Bowland, Colorists
Ray – 9/10
Ray: The latest issue of this horror anthology turns the focus on some unlikely heroes, kicking off with a Catwoman tale in “The Diamond That Steals Back” by Oswalt, Blum, and Earls. This tale finds Catwoman happily married to Bruce with a young daughter – except it’s not real, and it ends horribly every night. It’s all the twisted product of a demon who haunts a diamond she stole – after being set up by a low-level villain who needed to pass on the curse. The demon gifts anyone who steals it with a slow-acting descent into madness. This story was rather funny because it didn’t quite play as a horror story – Selina was very genre-savvy, and winds up passing on the gem to someone who deserves it. But the ending indicates that this may not be a torture for that villain – but rather for the demon who is now bonded with him. A very strong Halloween-style Catwoman tale.
The second story, “A Matter of Life and Undeath” by Hay, Kostanski, and Faerber, turns the focus on Matter-Eater Lad. The offbeat Legionnaire who can eat anything has hired himself out to consume forbidden weapons – as well as the seemingly indestructible body of a space tyrant. That last one turns him off – so he hides it in the vents instead, only for it to kick off a zombie plague. This story leans hard into gross-out humor, in a slapstick way that reminds me a lot of early Sam Raimi. There really isn’t anything scary here, but the fusion of sci-fi action with horror-comedy works really well and Faerber’s art is colorfully gruesome. Overall, I’m not sure how well this fits with the rest of the anthology, especially after the incredibly disturbing previous issue, but the lighter, absurdist tone of this issue is a great opportunity for some great comedy writers to flex their muscles.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
