Lady Hel #4 // Review
A goddess of death has been killed. (Naturally, she’s a bit upset about that.) She’s going to have to reclaim her own realm. Given the fact that she’s been reacquainted with her power through the process of her own death, those who stand against her don’t really stand a chance in Lady Hel #4. Writer Erik Burnham closes out his four-part story with an issue brought to the page by Zhengis Tasbolatov. Color beautifully comes to the page courtesy of Salvatore Aiala. Though it’s essentially little more than an extended fight scene, there is more than a little emotional substance to the final issue of the series.
Lady Hel’s death might come as a surprise to Persephone and her sister. They’re in Lady Hel’s home realm. Shouldn’t it have been more difficult to get rid of her? As it turns out, they have not. She’s regained all the power that she had lost on her way into the series, and now she’s quite upset. She’s a goddess of death, and she’s upset. The conflict is going to get pretty grizzly. On the other side of it all, a whole realm of existence is open to rulership by a single deity...one who is now motivated for revenge.
Burnham’s mythology fits together in a fairly logical fashion that’s easy to follow. The stark simplicity of magic in the realm of Lady Hel allows for major events to carry a hell of a lot of gravity as the climactic action hammers the ending home with respectable brutality. Dialogue is simple, clean, and free from the usual types of silliness that can drag an epic-level battle into ridiculousness. There’s just enough dark humor in Hel’s triumphant return that there really isn’t a need for any awkwardly jokey dialogue. It’s all balanced quite well in the final issue of the series as Lady Hel returns for vengeance.
Tasbolatov’s delivery of the action might feel a bit awkward in places. When Lady Hel returns in a new form without the hood, her eyes don’t always seem totally natural on the page, but her overall emotion feels quite present in an issue that nails some very powerful moments of action. Aiala’s color renders the radiant power of magic with impressively moody gravity. There’s a tight tension that cascades across the page with power and poise thanks to some very deft work with color. The delicate variation in tone and brightness across the blue of Lady Hel’s body renders her with a deliciously nuanced beauty.
The series continues in Purgatori Must Die! The focus shifts to Lady Death’s sister in a narrative flip that could prove to be a lot of fun as the divine conflict continues. With guest stars Evil Ernie and Vampirella, the new series is likely to be at least a little bit more cluttered than Lady Hel’s has been. If that series has anywhere near the kind of balance that Lady Hel has exhibited, it could be an enjoyable follow-up.
