Reviews»Comic Books»Eye of Newt #4
eyenewt
Kareem Ali 1.5

Eye of Newt #4

 

  • The good

    Artwork still captures the imagination

  • The bad

    Horrible conclusion to the series that not only leaves the majority of story threads unresolved, but so bizarre it ruined the series for me. Extremely random. Las Vegas???

  • The ugly

  • Eye of Newt #4 is the conclusion to the series, and picks up with the dragons scouring the area looking for the one who took the Eye. However Arthur is receiving help from the Merfolk, who bring him back to their city instead of returning him to his friends. They decide to take him to the sanctum of the wood nymphs farther upstream. He encounters a wood nymph but she doesn’t respond to any of his questions and just gestures him to remain quiet and follow her. She leads him to an isolated pond and urges Arthur to drink from it, which he does, resulting in him falling in a deep sleep. When he wakes up he’s not sure where he is in the woods so he wanders unsure of which direction to go. And since the dragons are still in the sky he can’t even use his ring to get away. Fortunately, he comes across magical mushrooms who lead him to Tittelwac. The strange creature tells Arthur that he has need for a hero, one who must rid their land of a beast that’s been terrorizing them. Arthur is fatigued and refuses to help at first, until the strange creature states they’ll never help Arthur return to his friends until he destroys this beast. With no other option, Arthur agrees to do so and he’s lead to this beast’s lair, which is terrifying. Can Arthur defeat this beast and finally return home with his friends or will he only have another task to complete after this one?

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    I don’t know where to start with this issue because at the start of this series I felt there was a lot of potential in the story line despite some rough edges. And the artwork was perfectly suited as it urged one’s imagination to get lost in the world being created. But the start of this issue made me recall what Newt/Arthur’s master told him at the beginning of this series, and that was to stay focused and not get lost in his very active imagination. I used that as an analogy for how the excessive descriptions in the scenes limited one’s imagination from enjoying the artwork fully. After reading this issue I felt Newt’s master should’ve told Michael Hague to stop digressing so much and resolve the story at hand. All the different elements introduced in this issue would most likely be fascinating in another story line, and the artwork is creative and gorgeous. But since this was the conclusion to the series it was frustrating to have more things introduced so randomly without attempting to resolve anything that occurred in the previous issues. So whether it was Newt being forced to meet the wood nymphs or to confront a beast, none of it seemed to truly matter outside of just a random encounter. Putting all of that aside for a moment, I did enjoy some aspects of this issue and the encounters but it’s impossible to ignore for long how random all of this was. And just when I thought things couldn’t get more bizarre they did, and in a manner that blew my mind in the worst way. Now, I can enjoy a story that serves as a metaphor and/or abstract in many ways because it can encourage you to ponder its meaning, and is entertaining. When the story, excuse me, the stories regarding Arthur’s birth was relayed it was done in the worst way, and that’s not even touching the actual content of the stories. It didn’t help that this was done at the end of the issue and didn’t leave time for anything to come out of this other than create the lasting question: what the f*ck? And every page just became more bizarre after this, and there was a direct correlation between that and my frustration level. Think I’m exaggerating? No spoilers but I’m sure you didn’t think an appearance at a Las Vegas casino would’ve ever happened in this series. And I didn’t think at the start of this series that at the end I would be filled with enough anger to go on a rampage.

     

    SUMMARY

    Eye of Newt #4 is a very frustrating conclusion to the series as the random encounters are only topped by the inexplicable developments that still have me shaking my head while I type this. This series started off with so much potential, hinting at deep secrets behind the selection of the youngest wizard ever chosen for trial, and in the midst of a long running conflict between witches and wizards. But it soon became muddled as characters and events popped up as fast as they ended, leaving the original premise mostly unresolved. And I don’t usually give details about endings to avoid spoilers but in this case I’m not giving details to save you from this mess. This is far from a smash, so I recommend you pass and just enjoy his artwork from other series.

     

    Release Date: 9/17/14

    Writer: Michael Hague

    Artist: Michael Hague

  • Rating ( 3 )
  • Total score 3.0

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