The workings of a dark fantasy novel in comic form.
The Good
Umbral is a nice dark fantasy book, which will definitely appeal if you're a fan of the literary genre. It has some magic, some dark creatures, smugglers and thieves, kings and queens, and a good amount of suspense and mystery as the story unfolds and the reader starts to get a grasp on this new world. The characters don't seem like anything out of the ordinary so far, a teenage girl form the thieve's guild and an old man who knows a lot more than he's letting on (and with this issue a new character at least for the time being), but to be fair we haven't really had the opportunity for character building yet as we've mostly been jumping from one awesome action sequence to the next. Everything in Rascal's world has been torn apart in the last two issues, and this one does not give her a break. One of the best things about Umbral so far is that no punches are being pulled. People are dying left and right like it's Hamlet. Sh1t hit the fan almost immediately and shows no signs of stopping anytime soon.
The Bad
If you can't thrust yourself into a brand-new world which you know nothing about and be patient as it unfolds for you, then you are going to be so frustrated with this book. As of three issues in, almost nothing has been explained, and in this issue it actually seems like the story goes out of its way to avoid giving any explanations. There's a couple places where even Rascal asks Dalone "WTF is going on?" and is basically just told "Don't worry about it," or "Later." This is a technique that works pretty well in novels, it makes you want to not stop at this chapter, but keep reading and find out what's happening. In a monthly comic though it is definitely frustrating. I do want to keep reading, but if they just keep postponing all the workings and magical lore of this world people are going to lose interest.
The beginning of this issue starts in the past and then transitions to the present without anything indicating this. It wasn't difficult to figure out just by the artwork, but it was a bit annoying that there were no captions or anything. Especially considering that some of the characters tend to look alike. The man who appears in the last panel of the first page looks similar to the thieve's guildmaster, who looks similar to Dalone. They all have the same basic hairstyle and color, and similar beards and mustaches.
The Verdict
I'd give it 3.5 if I could. This story has potential and I'll definitely stick with it, but it's starting to look like it might be a better read in trade. The last 2 books were awesome but this one was a bit more confusing and downplayed the action while not really adding much in terms of story to compensate. We know the same things about the characters as we did last issue, which is basically just bits and pieces patched together with hints and mysteries, and we still know nothing about the Umbral, the Mist, or this world's magic.