Aliens Vs. Crusaders
The Good: I really like the idea of the Shadow Cruseds. Especially the fact that the rest of the team had no idea they even existed. I also love the return of Black Hood, although I don't like the name he chose.
The return of Hangman, who was even more badass than usual here.
The shadow man in the prison is still hilariously creepy beyond all reason. Even the captive durlan is freaked out by him.
The interaction between The Comet and Fox is still really funny.
Those 3 completely random mystics from the end of #2 return but they get explained. And Black Hood's battle especially is pretty BA.
The return of The Persian, who is CRAZY prepared.
We get to see a more human side of the characters in a very everyday fashion we don't normally see. We find out that Fly-Girl is afraid of spiders when the Crusaders are attacked by spiders.
Throwbacks to #1 in the form of the Jimmy Olsen, Turtle Boy song.
I really like the art for this series. It's actually really good.
The Bad: Black Hood? He's not even that different than Red Hood. No direct relation but still, they have the same M.O. and the same basic fighting style. They seriously couldn't have picked a better name?
There's a lot going on and it's hard to give full props to everyone. The team is more of a unit then a group of individuals for the most part.
I'm still not sure what the overall direction is here. I mean, I get that they're fighting both factions of durlans, but who's the main villain? And what's the deal with Persian, is she a durlan? If so what does she have to lose by not being in her durlan form? If not, what does she have to gain by allying herself with them?
In Conclusion: 4.5/5
This has been the best issue of The Mighty Crusaders yet. #1 was pretty good but #2 dragged it down a bit. #3 was an improvement, but #4 really took the cake. All the little threads are coming together in some brilliant ways, and the durlans aren't overusing the 'Human DIsguise' thing at this point. There's a lot of totally awesome action in this issue, a little bit of character development, and some pretty crazy plot twists. Better yet, this ISN'T the issue that makes it all worth it because all of the great things here were just a lot of continued setup for the last 2 issues and the big finale. But this issue makes it clear that the last 2 will be worth it.
