Saturday, August 24, 2019

Dr. Fate #4 (1989) Review



THE NIGHT OF BRAHMA, PART THREE:
NIGHTFALL

Writer: J.M. DeMatteis
Penciller: Shawn McManus
Inker: Mark McKenna
Letterer: John Costanza
Colorist, Lovern Kindzierski
Cover Price: $1.25
Release Date: February 7th, 1989

Review by Joey Casco of TheWineStalker.net

To read the other reviews of this arc, check out the "The Night of Brahma" label. 

Kent Nelson is dead but Nabu inhabits Kent's corpse to mentor the new Dr. Fate, Eric Strauss, who was a 10 year old boy aged up to an adult by Nabu. But the catch is that Eric must merge with his stepmother Linda in order to become Fate. Joined by a shapeshifting demon named Petey and a lawyer named Jack Small, Nabu and Eric and Linda must face the Lords of Order and stop them from allowing chaos to win.

The Lords of Order have enlisted a vampire named Andrew Bennett, who wants to die but comes back to life after every suicide, and they promise that they will let him die once he's accomplished his mission. But the Dr. Fate team has aligned themselves with Typhon, a Lord of Chaos, and that brings about its own issues.


In the mini-series that preludes this ongoing series, Eric was tormented by Typhon and he's not having an easy time with Typhon living in the same house. He keeps having flashbacks, and it's making it difficult for him to be Dr. Fate effectively. Typhon, who now inhabits the body of Jack Small, doesn't seem to understand the issue because he's just trying to help. But Eric's trauma is heavy, and he won't give Typhon one second of forgiveness.


Meanwhile, Andrew Bennett has arrived in London.


Our, uh, "heroes" have learned that Andrew Bennett is helping the Lords of Order and that he's arrived in London, so they decide to hop on a place to confront him there.


Eric and Linda argue yet again, while Linda makes it clear that she wants to bang her own step-son. And poor Petey is in dog mode, in a crate with the luggage.


While this has all been going on we get snippets of a new character that appears to be protecting some possession of Jesus Christ in a castle. He's been there for quite awhile, as you can see.


He gets up and again promises to protect his Lord's treasure. Of course, he was sensing the arrival of Andrew Bennet, arriving in bat form, and being met with unexpected defenders of the castle.


The bats attack, but Andrew continues on.


Oh, by the way, the others have arrived in London and Eric is losing his shit.


Like, really losing his shit.


But Linda is able to put an end to the insanity and take over! And we now have a female Dr. Fate!


Elsewhere in London, Andrew makes it into the castle to find the old man making an offer: a drink from the holy grail.


Will Andrew do the bidding of a deity that he has come to disdain and reject through all of his years of  experience in tormented immortality?


Bits and Pieces

Things are about to collide in London. I've got a feeling that Andrew is going to completely reject the grail and murder the crap out that old dude, and that Linda isn't going to want to give control of Fate back to Eric.

I don't know how I can keep praising this series without sounding like a broken record. Everything about this issue is on point. Humor, darkness, dialogue, emotion, art. And even though I keep saying the same things, each issue is not the same in the least. It's not the same jokes or the same old stuff each issue; nothing is overdone or over saturated. Look at everything that Jack Small has been through already. Again, you gotta read it.

8/10

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