Scorched #15 Review

 

Scorched #15 Review

Writers: Sean Lewis & Todd McFarlane

Artist: Stephen Segovia

Colorist: Ulises Arreola

Letterer: Andworld Design

Publisher: Image

Price: 2.99

Release Date: February 22, 2023

 

Necro and Margaret Love have escaped Hell. Now they seek allies to bring their war to Earth. Will the tenuous unity of The Scorched hold against this new threat? Let’s dive into Scorched #15 and find out!

 

Story

Once Chenglei of the Sung Dynasty, now he is Mandarin. He deals death to his ghoulish servants for the slightest displeasure. Necro and Margaret Love face his wrath calmly, unbothered by his rage. They need the power he can summon, but woe to them if they double-cross him!

 

At the Black Fortress, Soul Crusher strives to forge peace between Medieval and Gunslinger, but the latter wants out. The group has not delivered on its promises. Like Black Widow approached Bruce Banner in the Avengers movie, She-Spawn may have secured Gunslinger’s participation, but now he wants out. It would seem that The Scorched was also a brilliant dream that faltered when Earth needed its heroes most.

 

Why isn’t Spawn here? Could he even keep them together? 

 

Art

Like Darth Maul, Mandarin grasps the pommel of a weapon with a fearsome blade at either end. He reminds me of Megatron from Michael Bay’s Transformers movies. Adorned solely in a red cape, this Terminator has shed his Arnold Schwarzenegger skin. Medieval stands proud in red-and-blue plate mail, even though he could fly away from Gunslinger with his white-feathered wings. A fusion of Soloman Kane and the guitarist Slash, Gunslinger's top hat and overcoat cover leather armor adorned with spikes, chains, and skulls. His glowing green eyes and fiery dark maw hold one entranced.

 

Segovia's art is detailed and refined in Scorched #15. It doesn't shout its presence. Yet it fills panels and pages with edged weapons, ripples of fabric, and shadows of skulls. Dust and dirt fly when our heroes clash. Closeups show reflections on armor, and background crosshatching lends depth. Arreola’s colors are never less than vibrant, and light sources add mood to dark interiors. The mauve sky and lavender, snow-covered hills suggest Castle Black stands at the boundary between our world and the next.

 

Upper-case lettering in narrative boxes and dialogue balloons has a large, easy-reading font. Gunslinger's white balloon is surrounded by gray. Instead of an arrow, a cross link Medieval to his dialogue balloon. Standard-issue yellow words on brown boxes ground us with the narrator's commentary, a hallmark of the Spawn series. Bold black and large red letters speak to each character's fury. This issue lacks sound effects, but you never feel their absence.

 

Final Thoughts

Jaw-dropping art and sumptuous color accompany a story bursting with intrigue and fury. The thunder of footsteps crashes through this issue, warning the reader of the approaching army. As the forces of evil ascend, The Scorched begins to fracture. More grounding in previous events would have helped add scope and meaning to this all-too-brief story. Full of sound and fury, The Scorched #15 impresses. It struts and crashes. If only it informed.

 

Rating: 7.5

 

To see both covers, see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.