REVIEW: 'The Last Wardens' #2 by Elliot Sperl, Amit Tishler, Rui Silveira, and Francesco Segala

 

 

The Last Wardens #2

Writer: Elliot Sperl, Amit Tishler

Artist: Rui Silveira,  Francesco Segala

Letters: Frank Cvetkovic

Publisher: Mad Cave Studios

Release Date: August 28, 2024

Cover Price: $4.99

Danielle Pryer's life quickly falls apart when her long-lost brother's affliction transforms their family home into a monstrous mass of flesh and bone. As his cancerous growth slithers its way into Bleakwood, Danielle tries to juggle between stopping The Wardens from killing her sibling and preventing the destruction of their hometown.

Score:

★★★★☆ (4/5)

'The Last Wardens' is one of those rare books that is thoroughly entertaining and exciting but I couldn't tell you how or why anything is happening. It's a fast-paced bloody monster series with likable enough characters in constant danger with people dying around them at the "hands" of a vicious blob that's overtaken a town. What is it? What does it want? Where did it come from? I don't know. 

As I ponder those thoughts I'm hooked on following Danielle avoiding getting impaled by the blob's tentacles while trying to get answers from the Wardens who appeared when the blob exploded from her estranged brother's body. They seemingly are there to fight the blob when they're not bickering among themselves. It's just a frenetic race to survive in this 'The Blob' meets 'The Walking Dead' horror series that is just a rush of adrenaline. All those questions will have to be addressed but as it stands, 'The Last Wardens' is a fun piece of monster thrills filled with blood and heroics. Elliot Sperl and Amit Tishler somehow manage all the craziness going on in a controlled manner so the reader is never lost amid the chaos. 

The architects of the visual chaos are Rui Silveira and Francesco Segala. There is so much on the page to take in, the eyes will linger. Silverira's detailed tornado of action could be a jumbled mess in less precise hands but despite the fluidity of the blob and number of characters, it's easily visible. It's a cinematic approach that captures the scope of the terror while also getting close enough to see the horrors inside the blob. Segala's rich bold colors make everything stand out in a flurry of blood and guts. It's an impressive display of terrifying urgency that any monster story should have. 

'The Last Wardens' issue two may offer few answers but it's an undeniably fun and disturbing horror story that is anything but boring.