Dark Ride #8 – Image Comics and Skybound Entertainment

Creative team: Joshua Williamson (Creator, Writer), Andrei Bressan (Creator, Artist), Adriano Lucus (Colorist), Pat Brosseau (Letters)

This issue concludes the second story arch in what has been a crazy Dark Ride (pun intended) in the Devil Land theme park! We travel back into the past to learn more about the ongoing sibling rivalry between Halloween and Sam and “the deal” that was made.

**Spoilers below**

The Story:

We start this issue with a flashback where Sam is sitting with his mother who is laying in her hospital bed reading him the Devil’s Tree. After finishing the book they talk about how Halloween never comes to visit anymore and the differences between Sam and Halloween. The conversation with Sam and his mother foreshadows what we learn later on in this issue.

The Art, Colors, Letters and Flow:

I really enjoyed how this issue flowed between the flashbacks to the present day. The palette change of going from traditional colors to black and whites by colorist, Adriano Lucus, allowed readers to easily follow the story. Especially, when present day Sam was shown in the flashback scenes. Seeing Sam in full colors walk through walls as he was traversing the past really grounded the reader and helped empathize who was in the flashbacks vs who was watching them. 

Letterist, Pat Brosseau, enhances the flashback scenes by making present day Sam’s letters semi transparent to showcase that Sam was there but unable to interact with the rest of the scene. This small detail intensified the internal emotions that Sam was working through as he learned more about the past and made it apparent that Sam was unable to interact with the past.

The layout of the panels during the fight between the Devil creatures, Sam and Summer was truly a cinematic like experience. The use of mixed paneling, lettering, art, colors and storytelling all worked in concert and pushed the story emotionally to set up the insane ending!

Final Thoughts:

I have been pulling this series since it started and it has yet to disappoint! This issue just kept on building both emotions and action, making it an exciting read. It does a great job setting up the next arch which I can’t wait to get my hands on!

Overall Rating: 9.25 out of 10

Thanks for checking out my review for the NI Comics Bullpen. Let me know what comics you’re reading and hit me up on Twitter. Till next time…

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