Right in time for Christmas, Christian Ward and Tristan Jones’ Event Horizon: Dark Descent #4 drops its penultimate issue on readers. Primed with a follow-up series on the way, the series has been one of the scariest and most twisted horror titles of the year. With much of the crew dead, how will Captain Kilpack right this ship? If you’ve seen the movie, it’s not going to go well, but how he sends the transmission is a key element.
Event Horizon: Dark Descent #4 opens on piano keys. A young boy plays, but soon makes a mistake, visualized by a music note that is scratched out. The very next panel, drawn in red, shows his father smacking his hands with a ruler. He yells, “Again!” It’s a key moment that shaped the captain, and, as with past issues, we see something that made them who they are. It also appears the leader of the demons, Paimon, sees this moment, which factors into his torture of a man who has failed his crew.
If there was a theme to this issue, it’s that all is lost. Kilpack is practically glued to his chair while Paimon brings his crew to him, naked, and happily hurting themselves. Riddled with fear, Kilpack can only force his eyes shut and hope it all goes away.
Ward and Jones repeat the piano scene, using it to act like a portal to Kilpack’s past, but also lay on the horror more and more. As the piano scene gets more horrific, so too does the horror his crew inflicts on themselves. By the end of the issue, it’s clear they’re truly in Hell, and when in Hell, the pain and torture never stop. That gives the issue a tinge of hopelessness, making Kilpack’s last act a simple, yet given the circumstances, and impossibly brave task he accomplishes.
The captain is royally screwed.
Credit: IDW
Since we know what happens to the crew, it’s not too surprising how things end here, with the final page not really ending in a way to drive you to want to read the next issue. That said, the cover to the next issue acts as a great cliffhanger and is smartly in the back of this issue.
Jones draws a lot of gnarly gore, like a person ripping their eyes and face away, or demonic dogs tearing at someone’s face and intestines. The utter glee Paimon has as he demands Kilpack with the word “again” is downright mischievous. There are also some unnerving jump scare moments, like Kilpack kissing a lover, only for you to turn the page and see he’s kissing a body that has no head above its lower jaw. Throw in the disturbing cosmic horror visuals of the ship falling deeper into a hell, seemingly represented by a giant red and yellow eye, and there’s a level of horror here that is the best of the year. In fact, this series is on my list for best horror on the AIPT Comics podcast this Sunday!
Event Horizon: Dark Descent #4 is a merciless plunge into despair, using trauma, repetition, and grotesque spectacle to underline that escape is no longer possible. While it doesn’t radically reshape expectations for those who know the source material, the execution is masterful, grotesque, and emotionally punishing in all the right ways. It’s horror that not only entertains but leaves you with scars.
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