Review — ‘Frankenstein: New World — The Speed Of Darkness #4’
by Anton Kromoff
Review
Frankenstein: New World – The Speed of Darkness has been a compelling adventure of found family through the horrors of a strange new world that is thriving in the ashes of the well-storied landscape of Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.
Overall
10/10Welcome to the table,
Found family is a powerful thing, and within the pages of Frankenstein: New World — The Speed Of Darkness, the story of found family has been blooming in a really enjoyable way.
Let’s get into it.
Written by Mike Mignola, Christopher Golden, and Thomas Sniegoski, with art from Peter Bergting, colors from Michelle Madsen, and letters from the king of kerning, Clem Robins, Frankenstein: New World — The Speed of Darkness #4 is the final issue in this current story arc and leaves our found family of Frank and Lilja with more questions than answers.
Before we catch up with Frankenstein and Lilja, there are a really fantastic few pages that showcase that the current civilization we are seeing in New World is one of many that have risen and fallen since the end of the world in the pages of the B.P.R.D.
A multitude of sentient species, including some mystical-looking aardvarks and what can only be described as a species of Great Old One that has some serious Cthulhu vibes going on, have been tending to the crystal chamber that holds Liz and her world-devouring flame. This insight into the greater lore of the mythos is really cool because it opens the door for other generational stories to be told within the same far-flung future of the B.P.R.D. reality.
-Spoilers Follow-
When we catch up to Frank and Lilja, they are at the exact point the cliffhanger where the previous issue ended. Our two protagonists … hanging on a cliff.
A flock of creatures puppeted by the vampiric intellect Murk has done a massive amount of damage to Frankenstein and has cost Lilja one of her eyes over the last two issues.
We have not seen Frankenstein this badly damaged since the series began. It seems our reanimated hero is entering the twilight of his existence. The magical fire that links him, Lilja, and Liz Sherman, the Star Lady that they have been seeking for the majority of Lilja’s life, does not seem to mend him or replenish his strength the way it once did. Lilja, however, seems to be growing stronger as she manifests great bolts of lightning-flame that can burn the forces of darkness to ash.
As the issue begins to draw to a close, it becomes really apparent we are not getting a nice buttoned-up finale with this issue. There is a final fight being set up between Murk and Liz, who promises that when the darkness comes for her, before she allows them to take her flames, she will burn down the world once more and let it start anew.
Normally I would be a little more disappointed in the way this story ends, but I find it really hard to believe that there is not another chapter coming, so I see this as more of a volume ending and not the end of a series.
The new additional lore about Liz is also really cool, and it opens a lot of questions about what is going to come next in the conflict between Murk and Frank, as I really don’t feel like either one of them is going to survive what is to come.
Until next time, Frankenstein: New World — The Speed of Darkness has been a compelling adventure of found family through the horrors of a strange new world that is thriving in the ashes of the well-storied landscape of Hellboy and the B.P.R.D. I’m invested in what is coming next and really hope we do not have to wait for the next volume of this story.
