Spirit of the Shadows #3 Review

 

Spirit of the Shadows #3 Review

Writers: Daniel Ziegler & Nick Cagnetti

Artist & Colorist: Nick Cagnetti

Letterer: Ferran Delgado

Designer: Winston Gambro

Editor: Karl Bollers

Cover Artists: Nick Cagnetti & Grey Williamson

Publisher: Oni Press

Price: $4.99

Release Date: March 25, 2026

 

Helena Hextress blames Erik Leroux for her sister's death. But by the time she finds Dr. Hyde Perkins, Erik has slipped through her grasp. The "Spirit of the Shadows" has died, and the Clerical has taken Erik to the Spirit Realm.

 

After a beast tears apart the book of his life, Erik has a brief window of time to reassemble it. But even if Erik can bring the book to the Hall of Judgment and convince the Realmkeepers that he deserves to reunite with his beloved Katrina in the Sacred Realm, Helena Hextress is determined to stop that. Why does Helena hate Erik? And is her sister Elizabeth, slowly turning into a beast in the Spirit Realm, truly beyond saving? Let's leap into Spirit of the Shadows #3 and see!

 

Story

When he found Elizabeth in peril, Erik rescued her. Then, she helped him collect his scattered pages. But Helena's magic interrupts their search when she resurrects Erik. As she gives the disoriented Spirit a truth potion, Erik tries to answer her questions. But just as his memories of life faded after he died, Erik's memories of his search through the Spirit Realm slip away before he can share them with Helena.

 

In Spirit of the Shadows #3, Helena grows frustrated. She yearns for the satisfaction of revenge. Yet the circumstances surrounding Elizabeth's death are complicated. Still, what Erik can tell her arrests her attention. It seems that Dr. Hyde Perkins was far more than he seemed. So Helena Hextress flies off to investigate the relationship between the disgraced doctor and the dead musician.

 

While Daniel Ziegler & Nick Cagnetti follow Helena's search for the truth, they also follow Elizabeth's search for Erik's scattered pages. Erik Leroux, Dr. Hyde Perkins, and Helena Hextress may be more complicated than they seem. Yet Elizabeth seems as loving and pure as Erik's beloved Katrina. Like Erik, a beast tore apart her book before Elizabeth could read it. While Helena seeks someone to punish for her sister's death, Elizabeth risks her future in the Spirit Realm to protect Erik from degenerating into a beast. But what she discovers on those pages may change her mind in Spirit of the Shadows #3.

 

Art

Nick Cagnetti splits a panel to reveal Helena's cottage and her conversation with Erik inside. As steam rises from the glass she hands him, Erik pulls his mask up to expose his lips. When he sits beside Helena and recalls a memory, a corpse with a wound in the back sprawls before the bench. Yet in the Spirit Realm, Elizabeth climbs a tree stretching over a river. Risking her existence, she hooks her legs around the limb, hanging down to reach pages caught on rocks amid the raging waters.

 

While Helena's red hair finds echoes in her attire, Erik's skin is green like his outfit. Nick Cagnetti lavishes a palette of bright colors on Spirit of the Shadows #3, making the Spirit Realm glow with fluorescent hues. As Elizabeth climbs a purple and pink tree, her green and yellow dress links her with Erik, her blonde hair evokes Katrina, while her red claw links her with her sister.

 

Black uppercase letters inhabit white dialogue balloons and colored narrative boxes. The letters grow bold for intonation, and swell for raised voices. Strong emotion or heightened volume deforms dialogue balloons, while blue letters in blue balloons signal an unexpected change. Sound effects heighten magical spells and scientific experiments, as a muffled noise in a cloudlike balloon foretells tragedy. Thanks to Oni Press and Superfan Promotions for providing a review copy.

 

Final Thoughts

“Death cannot stop true love,” Westley told Buttercup. “All it can do is delay it for a while.” In life, Erik and Katrina wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of their lives together. But one's actions after death threaten to divert the course of true love in Spirit of the Shadows #3.

 

Rating 9.8/10

 

For how this series began, see my review of Spirit of the Shadows #1.