Death Vigil #4 // Review
A secret society is only a secret society if you can operate in a secret. And there are increasing difficulties with the concept of operating in the shadows when the shadows become so very, very hard to come by. The media is everywhere. Cameras are everywhere. We're all holding them in our pockets. I can't catches the face of someone thought long dead. There are a lot of people who are very interested in this information once it gets televised. Tensions rise in Death Vigil #4. Writer/artist Stjepan Seijic continues a serial about people with great power lurking in the shadows of humanity.
Heinrich Bergler is alive. There is a curiously powerful looking entity with six eyes. That's rather concerned about this. I'm upset about it, in fact. Evidently the gentleman in question is seen as being a traitor. To someone who is essentially a giant spider weaving, a giant web. There is a lot of concern about that. And gradually information is disseminated from person to person along a hierarchy. Eventually, there are those who might be considered by some as gods who are very interested in the fact that Bergler and his daughter are very much alive.
It's fascinating to think about the idea that there might be being a fantastic power that just exist in the periphery of contemporary society. People who have power over reality that goes well beyond money or political leverage or anything like that. It's a fascinating thing to get into. Once all of the specifics and particulars of it are cast into the heart of a story, however, it just becomes a lot of politics. And it's not like Seijic isn't doing a good job with the pacing or the overall rendering of the dialogue or anything like that. It's just a hell of a lot of exposition. It's a hell of a lot of people going on about hurt feelings and honor and things of that nature.
The visuals are quite impressive. Seijic does a good job of making the fantastic scene. Fantastic. The more mundane does seem more mundane, even where it's outlining the lives and workplace of people with a great deal of money. The accessible material world feels very well rendered. And it strikes a powerful contrast against the more stunning and monstrous God alike essence of the central conflicts of the series. It's fun to see it come together visually. Even if it's just a bunch of talking.
The story were well modulated enough long stretches of dialogue between powerful people could theoretically be really compelling. And the visuals would be a nice framing device for all of the drama. However, the story doesn't quite hit the rhythm. It needs in order to find a infusion. There are interesting visuals. There are interesting personalities that play. But they never really managed to find the right alchemy to become something truly compelling. Everything is there, about. It's just a matter of finessing it right. And it's possibleSeijic could manage this in the issues to come.
