Reviews»Comic Books»The Witcher #4
witcher4
Kareem Ali 3

The Witcher #4

 

  • The good

    Geralt and Vara's interactions and character development

  • The bad

    Another meal occurs and this time with very few words and even less story progression. Certain events feel more like a distraction to the main story, which still isn't clear after 4 issues

  • The ugly

    • The Witcher 4 continues the story of Geralt as he and Vara rush back to the house after hearing bells ringing and seeing the songbirds dying. But as soon as they get back inside the house the bells stop, and apparently the purpose was to get them to return to the house since Jakob didn’t hear them at all. Maybe that’s because he’s sitting at a table with Marta sitting across from him at the other end and threatens him if he tries to leave or get to close. She surprises everyone when she speaks and tells Geralt and Vara to sit down but she doesn’t say anything other than that except to tell Geralt not to approach her. The silence is unnerving as Marta is clearly a powerful being and Jakob can’t take it anymore when he tells Geralt to tell a love story just to break the silence. Geralt obliges and at the end of it Marta vanishes when everyone’s eyes is off her just for a second. What is Marta’s objective and true nature considering she’s not a bruxae, and what truth is Jakob still concealing that would tie all these strange occurrences everything together?

    PageProportions_BL
    I loved the premise and the way it was set up in the first issue as I felt the deliberate pacing was a hint at a stimulating and meaty story to come. What it didn’t hint at was the fact that the meaty story would be in the form of meals the characters would have, which has been more than the number of issues, and I felt the last issue was more plodding. But the overall premise was still very intriguing and I was looking forward to this issue a lot. However when Geralt and Vara rushed back to the house it wasn’t for an exciting sequence but…yep, another meal. Now I enjoy a good meal as much as the next person, and it can be a good time to get to know someone in ways but in the fictional world of the Witcher, and at this point in the series in particular, it was slightly frustrating because nothing was revealed. Of course things could all tie together down the road in an amazing way but this issue achieved the dubious honor of making me feel that too much was going on without anything meaningful occurring in the storyline. Every story told or sequence of events felt like one was trying to distract me by pointing in a different direction from one page to the next so the focus wouldn’t be on Marta and Jakob’s story. So it’s perplexing that 4 issues in there has been zero progress with them and only a backstory that may or may not be true for the most part. Fortunately, the dynamic between Geralt and Vara is still very entertaining and I’m glad it has taken center stage because it carries the majority of the second half of the issue. I don’t know if the conclusion to this issue means huge revelations will occur next issue because I felt that before, however that is alluded to at the end and I’m really hoping that’s the case so the story can move forward and some answers are given.

     

    SUMMARY

    The Witcher #4 is unable to escape from the holding pattern from previous issues similar to how none of the characters can truly escape the house proving that Geralt has more patience than I do. The dynamic between Geralt and Vara is still entertaining as progress is made there but the lack of progress regarding Jakob and Marta is troubling. I can always enjoy a mystery being unraveled slowly if it becomes more intriguing but this comes off as pure avoidance delaying what could be an obvious and simple answer. Either way it’s time for some answers to be given so it doesn’t feel as if it’s possible to skip the majority of issues and not miss a single thing that affects the original premise, which seems to be the case now.

     

    Release Date: 6/18/14

    Writer: Paul Tobin

    Artist: Joe Querio

  • Rating ( 6 )
  • Total score 6.0

Leave a Reply

%d bloggers like this: