House Of Night #4
Story by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast
Script by Kent Dalian
Art by Joelle Jones and Jonathan Case
Colors by Ryan Hill and Jonathan Case
Letters by Nate Piekos of Blambot
Cover by Jenny Frison
Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: February 8, 2012
Cover Price: $2.99

We return to the story of Zoey Redbird, a fledgling vampyre attending the Tulsa House of Night and learning to control her newfound powers. House Of Night #4 addresses the issues of overconfidence and vanity. When Zoey accidentally destroys something sacred to her goddess, she decides to concentrate on repairing the damage done and learning from the experience.

The power and versatility of fire is her focus for this lesson. To that end, we get a re-imagining of the tale of Cleopatra and her torrid affair with Marc Antony. The story is less about their tragic love and more about how it affected the people over whom she had guardianship as Queen of Upper and Lower Egypt. We easily glean from the “history” that selfishness often can cloud judgment and cause more problems. As the old adage says: “Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely.” Luckily, Zoey is wise enough to understand this and takes steps to ensure she stays firmly on the right path in her training and leadership. There is even a surprise from Aphrodite, Zoey’s nemesis, at the end.

I was, as usual, happy with the story…though this one slightly less so than normal. It felt like more of a bridge issue rather than a complete step in the story. Kent Dalian is doing a fine job of adapting the story to comic form. I don’t feel as if I’m reading a scaled-back version of something, it seems like it flows quite well. Joelle Jones and Jonathan Case do an adequate job of rendering the art here but as I mentioned last month, nothing spectacular. Plain backgrounds and a minimalistic approach to the scenes only make me focus more upon the story. This can be both good and bad. While I do enjoy the writing, I am reading a comic book, after all. I expect a bit of visual stimulation to accompany my reading material. I may be unfairly comparing it to the premiere issue, but I cannot help it, the art was fantastic in the historic flashback in that first comic.

I liked this one, but then I liked all of them so far. This is definitely not a jumping-on point. It is, however, a necessary component to this first story arc. I feel like anyone who has enjoyed the comics so far or the books that preceded them will enjoy this part of the tale, but be warned…you do need to read the first three to know the whole story. But with it only being a few issues in, it’s a quick fix for anyone to sink their teeth into (pun intended). One thing I must note is that these vampyres do not really seem to drink a whole lot of blood, they eat food just like they did as humans…perhaps that is because they are fledglings? I know not, but will keep reading to find out! How about you?