She Hit Them With A Car! — Reviewing ‘Jumpscare’ #4

Welcome to the table,

Jumpscare #4 teaches us when knowledge of horror movies is your super power you are virtually unstoppable in the best possible ways.

Dark Horse Comics delivers another delightful comic this week in the form of Jumpscare#4. Written by Cullen Bunn with art by Danny Luckert and letters by Jim Campbell Jumpscare has proven to be this hardcore horror fans new favorite hero. That is saying a lot, as I do not really gravitate towards superhero books unless they really have something unique and fun going on with them.

For those not dialed into Jumpscare and the larger Beyond Mortal universe, picture the Justice League, remove science fiction and replace it with weird fiction. Then remove the gods like Aries and Zeus and replace them with horrible ancient outer gods that would give H.P. Lovecraft nightmares. Also, shift the scales in a way that makes Gotham City gangs look like the normal run of the mill criminals you see on old episodes of COPS.

When you do all that, you land somewhere near the space that Jumpscare exists within. What I have found is that space is the kind of thing that gets me to pick up a comic book as soon as it hits my stack.

Now my editors like me to tell you that Cullen Bunn is one of my best friends in this world and more than likely all the worlds beyond. For those of you who read my reviews, you know good and well I hold him to the same standards I hold all the other creators I review so that does not color my commentary on his chaotic creations.

Jumpscare has been consistently fun from… well… the jump. This issue seems to have taken all the well-formed story moments we have been given up to this point and ramped them up to a beautiful bloody battle between our hectic heroin and the haunting horrors that have been harrowing her since her introduction.

In the last issue, we saw her trapped by otherworldly forces who seemingly were able to contain her in a cage she could not escape. Proving that knowledge of horror films can save your life, if you can summon the objects from your favorite movies into being, Jumpscare was able to break free and carve a path of destruction through her captors and save her sister in the process.

There is a moment in this issue where Jumpscare screams “You should not have invited me into your house!” I swear to you, dear reader, I laughed like some kind of unhinged demon as it delighted me so so much.

This book is so good at delivering on those really emotionally rewarding moments that feel like all the music swelling good times that come in a traditional superhero story, without being caught up in a lot of the other, normally present stuff that kind of gets under my skin. I don’t know that I would have ever believed that that sort of thing could have been possible, but in a non-formulaic way, Cullen has managed to achieve this and it’s really truly a fantastic time.

Jumpscare is a nontraditional superhero story that delivers a ton of heart, a ton of gore, and a ton of memorable moments that transcend traditional comic book stories. It elevates the genre to something new, and weird, and completely delightful from bloody beginning to bone crunching end.

Until next time, go check out Jumpscare… it’s so much fun and I for one can’t wait for more!