Review: Daphne Byrne #4
[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]
Writer:Â Laura Marks
Artist:Â Kelley Jones
Colorist:Â Michelle Madsen
Letterer:Â Rob Leigh
Reviewer:Â Tony Farina
Summary
Daphne has found an ally in Mr. Brooke, a skeptic and expert on the manipulations of Spiritualism. But when a more immediate danger threatens her life, she’ll learn something very surprising about Brother-the powerful spirit she thought had her best interests at heart.
Positives
Kelley freaking Jones. Good lord man. This book has so much creepy and ickyness that I thought the pages were getting bloody. There is a scene smack in the middle of this book, where if I were one to actually remember my dreams, (thankfully I am not) I would know that nightmares were coming. Since I can’t show you that, let me show you this. In the image below, right in the middle of the page, you see Daphne’s creepy ghostie there and the look on her face is perfect. The closed eyes and the grimace is real. It feels real. She knows he is there, but she wants to disbelieve it. So brilliant.
Laura Marks has not let us down either. She cranks up the tension and with each false move Daphne makes, we feel her anguish. We are worried for her. We don’t fully understand it all yet, of course, but we are desperate to know what comes next. What magnificent storytelling.
Negatives
The only nit I can pick with Daphne Byrne #4 is that I don’t really buy the tension between Daphne and her Mom. I know that it is real for Daphne, but there is so much going on with her, that the angst she feels over her mother’s actions, while a plot point for sure, just doesn’t carry the weight of everything else.
Verdict
Honestly, I didn’t realize I was holding by breath the entire time I was reading Daphne Byrne #4 until I got to the last page and let it out. What kind of madness is this? I mean, it is comic book right? It isn’t a movie. It isn’t an audio drama, but I swear, with each page I turn, I feel like I can hear the Gothic, scary, tense piano music playing. Marks and Jones have cranked it up to 11.
