After the stellar DC Horror Presents… #3, I couldn’t wait to dig back into the series with the newest issue out this week. Two more tantalizing tales of terror can be found in DC Horror Presents… #4, one by Patton Oswalt, Jordan Blum, and Danny Earls involving Catwoman, and another by Steve Kostanski, Brendan Hay, and Logan Faerber involving Matter-Eater Lad. Given the creative teams and characters, need I say more?
Fine, I’ll say more. The first story is titled “The Diamond that Steals Back,” featuring an opening nightmare that throws you off the main focus of the tale in a good way. Blum and Oswalt craft set up a believable story where Catwoman steals a diamond that puts a demon in your mind once you’ve stolen it. The tricky thing is you have to have someone steal it from you to lose the curse.
The story puts Catwoman through the paces, connects to other Batman rogues, and has a clever ending. Honestly, the tale could be in canon and still work.
One of the scariest pages in the entire issue.
Credit: DC Comics
The art by Earls is steeped in shadows, which suits Gotham. A fantastic full-page splash of Catwoman fighting off zombies with her daughter cut in half on the floor is probably the grossest page in the entire issue. That said, this is less a gore horror tale and more about the dark demon Catwoman needs to rid herself of.
The second tale is titled “A Matter of Life and Undeath.” Given the popularity of Matter-Eater Lad on social media over the years, it’s nice to see the character get to shine in his own tale. True, his powers are ridiculous, but the creative team finds a clever way to use them here. He’s essentially the trash man for a space station, but there’s one thing on the menu he’s not too keen on eating: alien space guts!
These guts aren’t just decomposing insides, it appears, but zombie-making guts. Matter-Eater Lad and the folks on the space station find this out the hard way when he returns after hiding the guts in the ceiling. Those guts have now turned into an army of zombies.
As far as horror goes, this tale has plenty of gore, but Faerber excels at making it pretty funny as well. At one point, he has to chew his way through the bloody aliens to save his friends. Faerber’s clean style works well, creating an uneasy look to the gory bits and a cartoony feel for the good guys. There’s also an excellent sequence showing Matter-Eater Lad chewing through steel walls to escape the enemy that you won’t want to miss.
It’s a case where his power to eat anything and digest it comes in handy. Props to the writers who came up with a valid reason for this character to be the story’s hero. There’s a nice sense of humor to the tale as well.
Together, the two tales in DC Horror Presents… #4 work well together, with a sense of humor thrown into tales with gore and unease. It continues the series’ streak of engaging, offbeat horror tales, showcasing creative storytelling and art that matches the eerie and humorous tones of each story.
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