Midnight Society: The Black Lake #4 Review

Midnight Society: The Black Lake reaches its final issue. Is it good?

Midnight Society: The Black Lake #4 (Dark Horse Comics)

The Plot

• Something something chess match something something battle of wills something something who are these people again?
• Ah, here we go. Back to Matilda Finn kicking names and taking ass. It’s exciting and beautiful and all types awesome. Not just the action, but her internal dialogue, as well. I’m enjoying this book so…wait…what the hell is this?
• Something something characters I can’t remember very well something something explosion something something local dialect…
• Back to Matilda Finn (yes!). Instead of action, we get a chilling interaction along with a nice dash of exposition to close things out.

Is It Good?

Drew Edward Johnson is one amazingly talented artist. Not only is this book beautiful, but his work on The Shield (also out this week) is superb, as well.

His writing, however… is also very good. I love the character he has created in Matilda Finn. I love her voice. I love her thought processes. I love her interactions. I love her badassery.

I also love the way Johnson choreographs action scenes. Unfortunately, he has a bad habit of lingering on characters who I absolutely do not care about at all. Maybe it’s a deficiency on my part as a reader, but it felt like there was an inordinate amount of time throughout the series that was dedicated to aspects of the story that were nowhere near as interesting or integral as Finn. Time spent with the rest of the cast felt like marking time until she returned.


Ugh. Just go away.

But even with that issue hounding the series’ narrative, Midnight Society: The Black Lake hit a much better stride during its second half. While I initially didn’t care for the book, I now hope that Drew Edward Johnson revisits title… and perhaps says goodbye to some of the story’s extraneous parts.