Listen To The Puppets: Reviewing ‘Minor Arcana’ #4

When suddenly discovering that you have some sort of powers, attempting to test their limits is usually a good idea. Even if you happen to be a surly daughter dealing with your ailing mother, past traumas, and returning to the small town you fled long ago.

Limits are tested and mysteries deepen as Jeff Lemire and Steve Wands continue their small-town supernatural series with Minor Arcana #4.

There is something really gripping about this series. Damaged main characters tend to hold an attraction and pull for most readers, perhaps because it feels more realistic. Most of us have our flaws, or issues, our traumas, and soured relationships. Theresa is likely very relatable to many people that found themselves back in a situation they escaped in the first place.

While Lemire makes sure that while the supernatural elements of the series have a prominent place within the narrative, the human elements are not lost. We see Theresa and her mother continue to butt heads, but in her own way, the daughter is looking out for the mother. Even if it comes in a toxic confrontational way.

The relationship that is brewing between Theresa and Kelly is quite intriguing. Someone that is from her past and friendly, who not only believes Kelly about her powers but wants to help. Theresa in turn, even unassumingly, helping Kelly back was such a solid beat. Giving her back hope that her brother, thought lost, might still very much be out there somewhere. It’s a heartwarming beat in the middle of a story that has supernatural horror mixed into the DNA.

Hope found amongst direst tension flavoring is always welcome.

Lightness and heaviness mix so easily in the artwork because of Lemire’s artistic stylings. There is roughness but a touch of smoother lighter fare in the works, both in the pencils and the choices for  colors. Shadows are everywhere, while softer colors swirl throughout to create different spaces and  unique lighting styles.

This allows the story to shift seamlessly between the weightier supernatural trip pages and the ones right in the middle of the real-world. The water-color like color style lends itself to all of this because that style already balances the two opposing (yet also complimentary) factors.

Characters move up and down the emotional spectrum on these pages, as people tend to do at all points of life. A subtle, yet noticeable, shift happens within their words as Wands makes sure the change in tone or volume is clear. Allowing emotions and personality to guide the way with all the words, while placing them logically and methodically through the panels.

Minor Arcana #4 is now available from BOOM! Studios.