So far, Greg Pak and Eder Messias’ Supernatural has established a certain rhythm: start with a gruesome murder, then shift to the Winchester brothers and showcase how said murder is connected to the monster of the week they’re fighting. Supernatural #3 keeps this format, but this time the villain isn’t a mystical creature. Instead, it’s a would-be wizard obsessed with the idea of resurrection…and who’s roped his book club into the matter.
This leads to one of the issue’s breakout moments: Sam and Dean cutting through an army of literal ghosts, including one that’s a Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton. Pak also raises a good question about stories themselves: with all the different ways specific stories are retold or remixed over the years, are stories themselves a form of immortality? This eventually leads to a discussion of stories that tackle immortality, most notably Frankenstein (in another hilarious moment, Dean points out that Frankenstein is the doctor, not the monster).
Where Supernatural #3 stumbles is in introducing a subplot about a series of coincidences Sam and Dean encounter before fighting the would-be wizard, which hints that the leftover luck from the events of Supernatural #2 is still in play; by the end of the issue, it’s revealed to be something else that serves as setup for the next issue and ties into the events of Supernatural #1. While I am interested to see what the deal is with all these coincidences, I do feel Pak could have dedicated more time to the wizard plot, as it’s genuinely more interesting.
I also feel these references to the past issues take away a key element that I’ve been digging about this comic; namely, the fact that each issue has been a mostly standalone affair. You could pick up one issue and not have to worry about feeling left out, which became a rarity in the comic book world. Even the cliffhanger screams “pick up the next issue!” instead of “You got a complete story in one issue!” Now I don’t mind if the series becomes more serialized; after all, Supernatural the show ended up tackling bigger myth arcs in its later seasons. I’d just like for that progression to feel a bit more natural.
The issue also feels a bit scattered art-wise, since a veritable army of artists joins Messias. Those artists – Vicenzo Federici, Alessandro Ranaldi, Gerardo Gambone, and Paquale Qualano – manage to get close to Messias’ art style, which results in some great action sequences (see the aforementioned ghost battle if you don’t believe me). At the same time, some pages definitely feel like they were handled by a separate artist, which means this issue lacks the cohesion of the first two. I can’t help but think of how fellow Dynamite series The Terminator and The Terminator: Metal have managed to utilize different artists, yet spread them out over separate issues so that each story felt visually distinct.
Supernatural #3 has a good idea, but the execution is hampered by a collection of subplots and a cascade of artists. Hopefully, the next issue gets back to basics.
