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Elvira, Mistress of the Dark #4 review

Comic Books

Elvira, Mistress of the Dark #4 review

Elvira hits a speed bump slowing the momentum down of the story, but I have high hopes the finale will rebound.

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It has been a fun journey with my favorite Mistress of the Dark, Elvira. David Avallone has time-warped her to various landmarks of horror. She’s had the pleasure of meeting such iconic horror authors as Mary Shelley and Bram Stoker and Vlad the Impaler has been hot on her boo… errr… heels and is relentless. Vlad wants Elvira out of his life and wants the power of her time-traveling coffin to conquer new worlds.

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In the last issue Faust showed up and reveals that he has been the one in control of the coffin’s power the entire time. And to be honest, the coffin never really had the power, it was all him to begin with. But why is Faust manipulating Vlad and Elvira?

What is the book about?

Faust has snapped his fingers and sent Vlad the Impaler to God knows where and our darling Elvira to 1930s Hollywood, where she lands right in the middle of a scene from Frankenstein’s Creature? Yeah, creature. We quickly find out that copyright laws have derailed the scenario and after more clever fourth wall breaking, Vlad is back on the scene. Now Elvira is dealing with an obscure 1930s Hollywood, Vlad the Impalier, and Faust. What is a Mistress of Darkness to do?

Elvira, Mistress of the Dark #4 review

Dynamite Entertainment

The Good

David Avallone keeps the humor flowing in this issue. I don’t know how I feel about this chapter of the story, but the fourth wall breaking is always amusing. Elvira’s puns are on point and he has done well with keeping Elvira’s essence all throughout this tale so far. Elvira bounces around to movie set after movie set and I cannot conclude if that made the story more interesting or if it crippled the main plot. It was pretty cool to see Abbott and Costello-like security guards.

Dave Acosta continues to kill it with his artwork. It makes the jumps through the different sets a little easier. Acosta gets to experiment with different settings all the while making Vlad look intimidating as hell and Elvira as sexy as ever. The colors are so dynamic and set the atmosphere. It looks like Elvira really lands on a movie set in the beginning and the panels with the murder mystery scene are a few of my favorites.

The Bad

The story? As I mentioned, I am back and forth on where Avallone takes Elvira in this issue. Vlad is still trying to ice her. Faust is the culprit behind all the time travel, and this sounds like an interesting twist! Instead, most of the issue is a Scooby-Doo like chase as Vlad pursues Elvira through numerous movie sets. The humor is great but I feel like this takes away from the main focal point. Why is Faust doing what he is doing? All gets set up for the conclusion at the end, but this feels like a lot more fluff than substance.

Elvira, Mistress of the Dark #4 review

The book shines with moments like this

The Ugly

The feeling that I have in my stomach that this is the next to last issue and I felt like I was dragged along with no real payoff or any advancement in the story. Which is a shame, because I have really enjoyed the previous three issues.

The Verdict

It has been fun riding the horror roller-coaster with Elvira. The coaster may have cut out on us right in the middle of a loop, but hopefully the headache subsides once the ride gets going again. I could easily be in the minority with my opinion. Many other readers might dig the chase, but it took me out of the story. Fingers crossed the final issue is awesome.

Elvira, Mistress of the Dark #4 review
Elvira, Mistress of the Dark #4
Is it good?
Slows down from the previous issue, but I'm sure Avallone is setting up for a great finish.
The humor and fourth wall breaking is in full efffect
Dave Acosta's art continues to be a high point of the series.
Feels like we are diverted from the main plot. No real progress.
The set hopping as Vlad closes in on Elvira was a miss for me.
8
Good

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