EVERFROST #4
Writer: Ryan K Lindsay
Artist: Sami Kivela, Lauren Affe
Letterer: Jim Campbell
Designer: Phil Smith
Publisher: Black Mask Studios
Release Date: October 6, 2021
Cover Price: $3.99
The final showdown between Van and everything she hates about this future. Characters you love will die, and return, and be faced with the kinds of horrible choices you only find in final issues. As we close this story, you will not want to miss how we leave Van at the end of all this mess, or where, or when, or why!
Ryan K Lindsay, award-winning writer of ETERNAL and NEGATIVE SPACE, teams again with Sami Kivela, the artistic juggernaut behind ABBOTT and UNDONE BY BLOOD, alongside Lauren Affe, the colorist of THE WITCHER, STRANGER THINGS, and FIVE GHOSTS, to conclude this absolute bomb of sci-fi insanity and heartbreaking emotion in the grandest Black Mask tradition.
Score:
★★★★☆ (4/5)
'Everfrost' has always been about Van's journey. That journey was always about finding peace in her life away from the warring factions on a frozen planet. Of course, she was not allowed to with genetic copies of her deceased son running around all over the place. She couldn't rest until his code was wiped never to be cloned again. This diverted her path in ways that proved deadly but Ryan K. Lindsay's script offered more than nihilistic surrender but some actual hope in the end.
Issue #4 takes the reader on a roller coaster. There are clashes we expected - Rannveig vs Van - and one we did not see coming (no spoiler). Yet the latter one fits in all the tragedy Van has had to endure and relive her trauma once again. It just speaks to Van's resiliency and courage to overcome such painful memories to continue to fight.
Sami Kivela's designs and staging have been a wondrous combination of desolate barren landscapes, surprisingly evocative cityscapes, and some wild creature creations. Kivela's cinematic touch creates sprawling landscapes and tense close-quarter combat. The versatility is unlimited but in this issue the full range is displayed. That ending too will speak to not only Kivela's talents but those of colorist Lauren Affe. The comic's color palette is limited intentionally and by the end, you can see how the change in hues and tones reveal something like a rebirth, a prosperous rebirth in the world. The opening of bold colors changes everything as a new world blossoms before our eyes. It just goes to show how color can dictate a mood, or a feeling, or an overall tone all on its own. Jim Campbell's lettering becomes even more essential than usual when it takes a vital role in the latter part of the issue.
There is an escalation that takes place and when you think everything is safe, Lindsay takes one more swipe at your heartstrings. The best moments happen between Rannveig and Van and I wished there was more of them. I really could have seen them working together for the long term. Their discussion about creation is poignant and ultimately rather melancholy. I don't know how as a reader one can be happy and sad at the same by the final page but this creative team found a way to do it.
'Everfrost' #4 brings Van's journey full circle in shocking ways but also satisfying in terms of her finally finding peace. This is one of those sci-fi adventures that finds an emotional chord allowing for the character-work to do all the fireworks instead of bombastic action. Combined with Kivela and Affe, Lindsay has made 'Everfrost' a unique sci-fi experience that depends on brains and heart over excessive violent action. It's a meditation on loss and grief and to what lengths one will go to find eternal peace.
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