Malevolent #4 – How Did We Get Here…

Mals have been on earth for thirty years. Yet the population hasn’t a clue as to how or why… Till now…

Creative Team

Justin Jordan (Writer), Felipe Sobreiro (Artist/Coloration), CRANK! (Letterer), John Bivens (Cover Artist)

Publisher: Image Comics, Inc.

How Did We Get Here…

Issue four of Malevolent takes a step back from the present action of Mals being on earth and takes a step back in time to deliver the history of these monsters. Justin Jordan does an amazing job at flipping the script for this series. Readers are taken back to the very beginning of this travesty, to its creation. Which is going to make reader’s jaws drop!

With this issue being set back in time thirty years, readers won’t realize this till much later in the issue. Once this becomes known, readers will have a much better understanding on who the main players are that helped this Mal invasion happen. Some might think it surprising, while an overwhelming majority of readers will not be as shocked to learn who the coordinators are. This issue sent me into a deep internal rabbit hole in terms of thinking of possible real-life experiments that could be taking place in our world today. Which turned out to be a very scary thought!

Readers are met with plenty of gore and violence within the middle of this issue! The art really grips the reader during these panels with the level of severity of the violence. With the gore and innocence of the characters involved, readers will start to have an emotional pull for what happens to them. You’re just going to have to get a copy and see for yourself!

The ending for this issue will leave everyone in total disbelief! Justin Jordan writes this ending in such a fashion that leaves you flabbergasted! I certainly was! If you’ve been missing out on this series so far, this issue could suffice as a starting point, while you return to issues one through three to continue reading. You’re not going to want to miss out on the rest of this series, that much I can bank on!

The Writing

Justin Jordan continues to surprise with this amazing new series! With this issue taking a step back and giving readers the opportunity to see how we got here is fantastic! This provides a deeper dive into the plot and storyline development! The issue does start off a little slow, but when the action picks up, so does the storytelling! Awesome writing!

The Artwork

Felipe Sobreiro is credited with not only the pencil work but also the coloration for this issue. Absolutely NAILED it! The coloration in the beginning is dark and subtle adding to the tone of the narrative. Once the story starts to pick up traction, so does the art! Vibrant colors and amazing attention to detail within the violent panels guarantees to get the reader’s attention! Amazing use of colors within this issue along with shading to add to the gritty tone of the narrative. Visual entertainment at its finest!

CRANK! provides the lettering for this issue and hits the ball right over the green monster in Boston! The subtle narrative bubbles throughout the beginning of this issue provide a dark yet mysterious tone for the reader to interpret. Placement is spot on as well, making the art within the panels easily visible.

Variant Cover

Final Thoughts

Issue four of Malevolent provides an understanding of why this story is the way it is. Which is such a relief! Getting a full issue of nothing but backstory is refreshing simply because now readers are more informed than they were in issue one. I’ll say it again, do not sleep on this series from Image Comics by Justin Jordan! He has an amazing plot that is proving to provide more storytelling for future issues!

Grade: 9/10

Links

Comic Book Reviews & Entertainment News: Nerd Initiative
Previous Malevolent Review: Malevolent #3 – Ratcatchers
Travis’ NI Portfolio: TravisComicHaven – Nerd Initiative
Travis’ Personal Content: Travis’ Comic Haven

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