Advance Review: ‘Corpse Knight’ #6 Wraps Up A Largely Forgettable Journey
by Tom Smithyman
Young Foy has been through a lot. And so have the readers. But it still wasn’t very satisfying for any of us.
In the first issue of Corpse Knight, her dad was killed and turned into a zombie. Since then she has sought battled highwaymen, an evil lord, and even Joan of Arc who pretty much killed dear ol’ dad again.
With this issue, the limited series wraps up its run. The journey to get here has been a mixed one. The story, written by Michael Chaves, has been uneven. There’s practically no one Foy can trust. (I mean, if Joan of Arc isn’t trustworthy, then who is?) What is most disappointing, though, is the late reveal of the series‘ big bad, Lord Gille de Rais, Joan’s bodyguard and all-around nefarious villain.
De Rais, based on a real-life serial killer of children, came out of nowhere late in the series and doesn’t even have that large of a role in the finale. Worse, there is no real motivation for why he acts as he does. (Okay, why does any serial killer act the way they do?) The lack of character development leaves the lord as just another in a series of bad people doing bad things to Foy and family. It leaves the whole story feeling incomplete.
Matthew Roberts’ largely simplistic illustrations don’t help matters. There are plenty of successful comic stories that don’t have detailed imagery. But Roberts gives us only the occasional background, choosing to focus on the characters. That’s a valid choice, but the faces aren’t all that detailed, leaving us to wonder what could have been.
It doesn’t feel like the world needs many more zombie stories, but one taking place in the Middle Ages with Joan of Arc sounded at least interesting enough to try. Ultimately, though, it will go down somewhat forgettable.
Corpse Knight #6 — written by Michael Chaves, illustrated by Matthew Roberts, colored by Rico Renzi, and lettered by Pat Brosseau — will be available Wednesday in comic book stores and on digital platforms from Image Comics.
Overview
There’s no knight riding in to save this series from itself. What started out as an okay idea got muddled in tepid execution — both from a story and illustration perspective. Don’t worry, though. There will be another zombie story to take its place any minute.
