Nightmares of the Macabre #4

Nightmares of the Macabre #4: Improbable Apocalypse You Never Saw Coming (I.A.Y.N.S.C.)
Writer: Ashley Mearns
Artist: Thiago F. Castro
Publisher: Creators Edge Press


This is the first writing sampling readers will see from the mind of Ashley Mearns. Mearns teams up with Thiago Castro to bring us this hilarious but horrifying twist on the end game of our species. Mearns weaves a great story that has good pacing and keeps the reader involved, and tests your knowledge of Egyptian Mythology.

The art isn’t as epic as we have seen from Castro and compliments the story well. Sometimes you can’t tell much difference between the characters faces, and the lead character isn’t very feminine for a chick. That could have been the point though for this soggy tale, I don’t know much on how persistent rainfall and flooding. There could have been a little more effort into the drawing of the boobage. I couldn’t tell the lead character was female until half-way into the book. The landscape and background of a flood ravaged Pacific Northwest was done very well, as were the panels that featured the mystery protagonist of this tale. The art is enough to get the point across and has his same gritty feel to it. Don’t worry there is plenty of gore.

I don’t want to spoil anything in this review. I can tell you that the end game this time comes to us in perpetual downfall of rain and flooding. The characters are hungry, wet, and dying away as they march for their lives up to higher ground. If the flooding and the in-fighting of this group aren’t bad enough, horribly mutilated bodies start to turn up as their number continues to dwindle.

Bodies are found face down in the muck and with their backs torn open and organs missing. There are interesting theories that pop up, including cannibalism, and one that hits things right on the nose. Of course it is the crazy one that nobody would have bought into in the first place. Things twist and turn, they make it to dry upper ground as the rain stops. They find their protagonist and their possible saviors in this water logged world.

The story is put together nicely and it was a great read. One side effect is that you may want to go stand in the sunshine after words.

4 out of 5 Big Fat Rain Drops