Man-Eaters: The Cursed #4 // Review
Craft Camp is a dangerous place when things go wrong. Maude has been around long enough to know this. Nevertheless, there is always the danger of the unexpected, as she soon finds out in Man-Eaters: The Cursed #4. Writer Chelsea Cain begins to draw to the end of a very brief story with the aid of artist Kate Niemczyk and designer Lia Miternique. Cain's story deeply engages the art and the design elements of the issue in a way that doesn't leave a whole lot of room for a great deal of plot development. That being said, the story that Cain and company are delivering continues to be a great deal of fun in its penultimate issue.
Maude is leading a clueless kid into the woods. (She doesn't have much of a choice in the matter. All the adults are gone, and there is no cell reception. Maude's parents are shopping in the Historic Wind Chimes District of an idyllic vacation resort.) This isn't an ideal situation, but it's hardly weird until one considers that she's also carrying around a group of campers who have been shrunken down to hand-size by moth fairies. So naturally, things are going to get a little weird when the frogs show up in the rot of the tree that she's gone to for help.
Cain does a clever job of characterization with Maude. The main character is not unfriendly, but she is far too busy trying to solve problems to engage with the reader all that much. She hasn't been all that present since her similarly stoic appearance and the first Man-Eaters series. She is a fascinating mystery of a character Who is just as interesting in what Cain isn't revealing about her as she is in those elements of her personality that DO make it to the page.
Niemczyk has a really solid sense of layout that becomes really appealing in this chapter as Maude And her companion excavate into the roots of a massive tree in search of a rare spell component. The artist allows the basic elements of the story to rest on the page and a very straightforward fashion. The mystery is laid there and a lot of fun to engage with. Mitternique Embellish is the story with a cleverly placed at for shorts and a few other Craft Camp printed matter, which continue to expand the world of the series in subtle directions.
Given the fascinating nature of the storytelling style of the series, The closing chapters Of the series feel a bit abrupt. This is because the five elements don't play out like a traditionally cluttered genre comic book. Instead, World-building happens in strange pamphlets and ads while characters in the foreground are allowed just enough mystery to Maintain the reader's interest. It's very delicately rendered storytelling that continues to be immensely appealing. The pacing could get kind of weird in the next issue with everything having to wrap up. But given there isn't that much to resolve, it might be kind of fun.
