(No Spoilers)
Writer: Steve Niles & Adam Jones
Pencils: Tom Mandrake
Colors: Darlene Royer & Gabe Eltaeb
Letters: Ed Dukeshire
Assistant Editor: Kristy Quinn
Editor: Ben Abernathy
Cover: Andrea Sorrentino
If there’s one things Steve Niles knows how to do, it’s to creep you the #@!$ out! Oh my God are there some eerie scenes in this issue!
One thing that I thought was a nice change of pace from the beginning of this issue is that we focus on the vampires for a little bit. It’s an interesting format that Niles has used in the others stories I’ve read of his because he’s taken time for us to get to know the human characters so now we get to focus on the vampires for a bit. Usually I find it more interesting when villains are shown to have more to them that just simply being evil. But in this case, Niles and Jones show that these creatures do nothing to warrant sympathy.
I’ve also talked about in the past how I had no idea how Mulder and Scully were going to survive against such a dangerous opponent. I can say that so far, it’s been blind luck. Add to that fact that Niles and Jones have come up with some great situations where I’ve actually feared for Mulder and Scully’s well-being. This is a great feat for a writer who is writing about two characters who we already know will survive at the end of the story.
I also feel that Tom Mandrake’s art has improved greatly with each issue. With each new issue he’s seems more comfortable with the layouts and characters than he did at the beginning. Plus he gets to draw those creepy scenes I was referring to earlier.
This is what the fourth issue of a six-issue mini-series is supposed to be like! We’ve reviewed other mini-series where the fourth issue was still dragging. But Niles and Jones have kicked this series up a notch with a great new story element introduced in this issue. It’s put a whole new spin on this story for me. I can’t wait to see where it goes next!
9 out of 10 (Excellent!)