WARNING- The following contains spoilers
Bringing Wrath‘s first arc to a close, issue #4 sees Gilad throwing himself against the demonic forces standing between him and the indestructible iron door representing his return to the world of the living from death.
Ultimately, the entire issue reads quickly and fails to satisfy. Almost no new information is presented, which seems wasteful with the handful of interesting concepts and characters introduced so far. For what has ultimately been presented over these four issues, this arc could’ve easily consisted of two. This final book nails the point home, offering little more than a battle sandwiched between two woefully small bits of exposition.
With previous issues, the style of several small panels allowed for great visual storytelling moments, but in the bleak landscape the majority of this book takes place in the effect runs from underwhelming to almost pointless. The conflict is established quickly as one between an immortal human and the undying Humongous, which simply sucks any fun and excitement out of the battle. Gunshots, axe-swings, impalement by a flaming trident, and an interesting implementation of grenades equates to nothing more than Gilad dealing out enough punishment to simply pass his foe and reach his goal. While the book does try to dramatize this, there’s simply nothing exciting about a fight with little at stake.
Despite an uninteresting resolution, the book does manage to end on an intriguing note: instead of waking up where he died, Gilad finds himself in some sort of research facility. As the last pages come to a close, it’s revealed that someone is studying his resurrections, and doing so means killing him repeatedly. All but promising to delve deeper into the how of Gilad’s immortality is certainly an effective hook, although not one that makes the story of the last four issues feel any more necessary.
RATING 2.5/5
