Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #4 Review

 

Writers: Dan Watters & Ram V

Artist: Matthew Roberts

Colorist: Trish Mulvihill

Letterer: DC Hopkins

Cover Artists: Matthew Roberts & Dave Stewart; Jenny Frison; Dani & Brad Simpson; Maria Wolf & Mike Spicer; Martin Simmonds

Publisher: Image

Price: $4.99

Release Date: July 24, 2024

 

Dr Edwin Thompson hunted the Creature for thirty years, but it eluded him. Kate Marsden traveled to Peru to capture Darwin Collier. She wanted justice after he tried to drown her. When the reality of the situation grew apparent, she made a deal with Dr Thompson. Help me kill Collier, and I'll help you capture your Creature. Kate thought she had the benefit of surprise, but Collier knew she was coming and laid a trap. Now, Dr Thompson's fate is uncertain. He may be deceased. His assistant Christiano, ditto. Kate is in Collier's custody. What will the soldier with a penchant for drowning people do to her? Let's grab our knives and rifles, leap into Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #4, and find out!

 

Story

The Marine Corps taught Darwin Collier how to kill. Watching the life seep out of a victim's eyes changed him. Humans once dwelt in the ocean. Collier began to wonder why we left. So he sought out people with the sea in their eyes to help them return. A business trip to Peru introduced him to the Creature. Dr Thompson’s Missing Link confirmed his beliefs. And it shed bits of itself to help him transform into its likeness.

 

In the United States, all those Collier tried to baptize into their new life died except Kate. She followed him across the world to Peru. Collier welcomes her as a disciple. He hid his transformation from others, but in Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #4, he reveals his changed features to her. Now, she sees through a glass darkly. Collier will use his needles, surgical thread, antiseptics, and the Creature’s shed hide to clothe her in its glory. How can she fail to recognize the gift he has bestowed upon her?

 

But Collier's misdeeds are catching up with him in Dan Watters & Ram V's story. The drug producers he helped train in military combat and surveillance found the remains of his latest victim. They won’t wait while he picks them off one by one. And then there are Christiano and Dr Thompson. The disfigured researcher tends to his wounded assistant. But when he sees the Creature, he grabs his rifle, abandons Christiano, and ventures into Collier’s sacred temple.

 

Art

Matthew Roberts shows figures treading a dirt path to the lake between stony hills in Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #4. A silhouette against a red field shows the man drawing his prize from the water. The narco’s eyes close as he presses the severed head of his colleague against his own. Nearby, Dr Thompson pulls his assistant from the dark water. Christiano’s face now bears similar disfiguring scars. Dr Thompson tears off a shirt sleeve. Then his eyes bulge, and he abandons Christiano. Darkness obscures his face and chest, and his eyes glow yellow as he enters the cave.

 

Trish Mulvihill paints the periphery of the cave in blues and greens. We first glimpse the Creature as a silhouette with blue eyes. Later, we see the Creature in all its green radiance. By contrast, Collier's webbed hands and the scales adorning his body are a dull and faded green. Yet his eyes glitter like gold and glow yellow as he disappears into the humid gray darkness. Red stains the dark water inside the cave, revealing the shadows of men bearing rifles as Collier seeks those who defiled his temple.

 

Uppercase black letters inhabit white dialogue balloons and gray narrative boxes. DC Hopkins' font grows bold for intonation, swells for elevated voices, and rarely shrinks. Sound effects heighten small moments, helping us hear tearing cloth and scratching claws. Yet enlarged colored dialogue joins the chorus of violence and death as Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #4 reaches its crescendo. Thanks to Universal Studios, Skybound, and Image Comics for providing a copy for review.

 

Final Thoughts

Like the disease that once ravaged Christiano, the hunger for revenge refuses to release Kate. As she seeks freedom from her torment, Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #4 ponders the difference between animals, humans, and monsters.

 

Rating 9.8/10

 

To preview interior art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.

Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #3 Review

 

Writers: Dan Watters & Ram V

Artist: Matthew Roberts

Colorist: Trish Mulvihill

Letterer: DC Hopkins

Cover Artists: Matthew Roberts & Dave Stewart; Julian Totino-Tedesco; Dani & Brad Simpson; Anwita Citriya; David Talaski

Publisher: Image

Price: $4.99

Release Date: June 26, 2024

 

Darwin Collier tried to kill Kate Marsden. Haunted by her brush with death, the journalist pursued the former Marine from her home in the United States to a remote village in Peru. Kate reports on what she can prove. So when fishermen pull drowning victims from the Amazon, Kate dismisses talk of a local legend. Likewise, she ignores the carved wooden images of the Creature in a vendor's stall. But then the Creature saves her from drowning. When Kate ventures into the jungle to apprehend Collier, the Creature saves her again. Or at least, so she remembers. What drives Kate and those involved in her quest? Let's grab our knives and rifles, leap into Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #3, and find out!

 

Story

Collier victimized Kate. He tried to drown her in the Hudson River. She told herself she wanted justice. But the stark reality of life in the jungle leaves its mark on her. Now, she doesn't care about dragging Collier back to the United States and testifying against him in court. She just wants to kill him. The Creature may have helped her. But in Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #3, Kate's through being a victim. She's willing to become a monster to kill another. If the Creature can help her accomplish that, all the better!

 

The Creature victimized Dr Edwin Thompson. One swipe of its claws left Edwin disfigured. For thirty years, he’s endured people’s reactions to his appearance. The severed nerves in Edwin's face impinge on his sleep. So he fled civilization and took up the cause of his friend Dr Carl Maia. But if his mission is to understand how life evolved from the ocean to land, why is he fixated on this Creature?

 

Civilization victimized Christiano’s family. When they fell on the wrong side of the political jungle, his family fled the We’re Right And The Other Party Is Wrong crowd to live with the indigenous people of Peru. Like the fires that rise when loggers cut down trees and burn foliage to create grazing land, malaria burned through Christiano in his youth. He may not have a wooden idol of the Creature in his room at Dr Edwin Thompson's house, but he revels in the mysterious nature of the jungle and reveres the Creature as its guardian spirit.

 

Civilization victimized Darwin Collier. The Marine Corps unleashed an unquenchable thirst for violence. When they threw him out, he couldn’t adjust to civilian life. After Collier fled the United States to share his Marine Corps skills with others, his drug trafficking employers abandoned him when his hunger for death resurfaced. As he hides from civilization and those who wish to kill him, Collier finds a new purpose in Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #3.

 

 

Art

Kate swims in the river near Edwin's home. She doesn't know how much of what she's seen is real or imagined. The ripples in the water evoke the Creature's green, scaly hide. Yet the netting Christiano laid on the ground galvanizes her. She slices off a portion and hurls it onto Edwin’s desk. That evening, as Kate sits on the roof and watches the flames leaping above the trees, Christiano’s gaze drifts to her cigarette and the fire ravaging the packed tobacco. As Kate and Christiano share their near-death experiences, faces dance with skulls in the raging flames.

 

Trish Mulvihill lavishes a loaded palette on Matthew Roberts' relatable characters, drama-fueled encounters, and the explosive finale in Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #3. Light spears the muggy jungle, casting leafy shadows upon Kate’s head and shoulders. The vibrant green forest contrasts with the calming beige and tan in Edwin’s home. Still, he tames the Creature by sketching it in black and white. The yellow and orange fires reflect off rivers and streams while orange and mauve spirits invade the purple skies.

 

DC Hopkins carves uppercase black letters into white dialogue balloons and colored narrative boxes. The font grows bold for intonation, swells for elevated voices, and never shrinks. Sound effects help us hear a knife thrust and a gunshot. Yet an enlarged final sentence may shock readers most in Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #3. Thanks to Universal Studios, Skybound, and Image Comics for providing a copy for review.

 

Final Thoughts

In Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #3, Dan Watters and Ram V pit the people who inhabit nature with those who violate it to enhance their status in civilization. The jungle of Peru becomes a battleground between those who burn for revenge and those who seek to become something more.

 

Rating 9.8/10

 

For more cover art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.

Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #2 Review

 

Writers: Dan Watters & Ram V

Artist: Matthew Roberts

Colorist: Dave Stewart

Letterer: DC Hopkins

Cover Artists: Matthew Roberts & Dave Stewart; Francis Manapul; Dani & Brad Simpson; Stephanie Pepper; Christian Ward

Publisher: Image

Price: $4.99

Release Date: May 29, 2024

 

Journalist Kate Marsden was on the trail of a hardened killer. Then she saw something she couldn’t comprehend. As Kate fled, she slipped while crossing a river. The current sucked her down. No matter how hard she struggled, she couldn't fight free. Has the Amazon claimed another victim? Let's strap on our masks and flippers, leap into Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #2, and find out!

 

Story

The Marine Corps kicked out Darwin Collier for violent conduct. Police suspect him guilty of seven drownings. He tried to make Kate his eighth victim. Kate tracked his movements to Peru, where he purchased items from a local pharmacy. But then Collier left town, and Kate couldn’t find him.

 

Lately, boaters have pulled bodies from the river. Kate followed a local man who picked up the latest victim and transported it to the river. As Kate watched a boat carry it away, she heard a noise. She thought perhaps it was Collier. Instead, a strange creature met her gaze.

 

In Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #2, Kate awakens in a house with an IV drip in her arm. These days, she fights the urge to sleep. Dreams follow, and they often return to the time Collier tried to drown her. The attempt left Kate feeling violated. She is strung out on amphetamines and can’t bear to let anyone touch her. She also suffers from Anoxic Brain Damage due to brain cell death from lack of oxygen.

 

But Kate isn’t frightened now. She remembers how Christiano found her by the river and that Christiano’s employer, Dr Edwin Thompson, took her in. She goes to Edwin’s laboratory, where she learns the drowning victim had black sand in his lungs. Edwin believes a mythical creature killed the drowning victim. Although Kate doesn’t want to admit it, she glimpsed the monster. But she's a journalist, grounded in accepted truth and facts. So, Kate asks Edwin to take her to the Black Lagoon. She must know she is not slowly losing grip on reality.

 

Kate Marsden claims she wants justice in Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #2. Like any victim, she struggles with anger from Collier's savage attack. But Kate isn't in the United States anymore. The law doesn't work the same way in Peru. Her chances of utilizing the Peruvian legal system or getting Collier extradited to the United States (assuming she could capture the former Marine) are low. Besides, she suffers from Anoxic Brain Damage. Why should anyone trust her judgment when she's unsure she can trust her memories and perceptions?

 

 

Art

Kate Marsden awakens on a cushioned rattan couch. Pulling the IV from her hand, she ignores the tropical potted plants and the jungle outside the wall of windows and heads down a hall toward Edwin's lab. Clad in surgical gear, Edwin speaks into a microphone connected to an 8 Track Tape Recorder. As smoke rises from a pipe near the table, he cuts into the body with a scalpel. Wrinkles navigate his face and neck like rivers on a map. Kate's straggly hair frames her confused expression as her wide eyes behold the dark granules on the bloody blade. Then the wind whips her hair as she sits near Christiano at the back of the boat while Edwin sits upfront, staring grimly at the jungle ahead.

 

Dave Stewart applies a loaded palette to Matthew Roberts’ realistic art in Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #2. Stewart paints Edwin’s lab in pale greens, blues, beiges, and grays, while Edwin’s surgical gear, lab surfaces, and a hanging screen reflect the more vibrant greens glimpsed through the tall windows. The white drowning victim looks lavender in closeups, while dark red shows within rents from whatever also tore off a portion of the man’s ear. The lavender reminds Kate of two amorphous circles shining in the darkness. The twin circles evoke jellyfish, floating wherever the currents take them. But Kate knows they're not.

 

DC Hopkins carves uppercase black letters into white dialogue balloons and colored narrative boxes. The font grows bold for intonation, swells for elevated voices, and rarely shrinks. Spotting the man who nearly killed her sends green words into a yellow balloon. Darker green words emerge from the Burnt Umber lips enclosing a mouth filled with sharpened teeth, while yellow words signal a hail of gunfire in Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #2.

 

Thanks to Universal Studios, Skybound, and Image Comics for providing a copy for review.

 

Final Thoughts

Kate Marsden grapples with local legend, an obsessed scientist, drug traffickers, a serial killer, and the limits of her exhausted body and damaged mind in Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #2.

 

Rating 9.8/10

 

For more cover art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.