KISS: Phantom Obsession #04

KISS: Phantom Obsession #04

Dynamite Entertainment 2021

Written by Ian Edginton

Illustrated by Celor

Coloured by Valentina Pinto

Lettered by Troy Peteri

This is it! The explosive conclusion to the craziest KISS adventure Dynamite has published to date! Facing Kaiju and Uzumaki style horror, the band finally are piutted with the mastermind of it all, and the man who holds their rock and roll fate in his hands – Darius Cho!

Whoops the blurb is wrong this isn’t the last issue, maybe it was supposed to be but it’s extended to a fifth issue. I don’t know all I do know is that this is a fun, exciting and decidedly different story than we’re used to seeing. I love the originality of what we see and this issue breaks out of even the off wall storytelling we’ve been seeing thus far and branches further out. I am obsessed with this story and the further it goes on the more obsessed I am becoming. Now we kind of knew something was up with the man who brought them here but I had no idea what we were truly in store for and the ending of this issue takes on a whole new meaning. This issue is not only full of twists & turns but some great revelations as well.

I am a huge fan of the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information are presented exceptionally well. The character development that we see through the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter does an amazing job continuing to flesh out these ever changing and evolving personalities. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages revealing the twists, turns and revelations we really are just drawn deeper and deeper in.

I am very much enjoying the way that we see this being structured and how the layers within the story continue to emerge, grow, evolve and strengthen. I am also liking the way we see these layers open up new avenues to be explored. Whether it’s from that ending and its ramifications or what they encounter throughout the issue adds such great depth, dimension and complexity to the story. The way we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward are impeccably handled.

The interiors here are nicely rendered. The linework is clean, crisp and sharp and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create the detail work that we see is fantastic. The backgrounds we see are on the simple side and I do wish we’d see more of them because when we do they enhance and expand the moments. They also work within the composition of the panels to bring out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a remarkably talented eye for storytelling. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work shows a great understanding of how colour works. Cho’s shirt for instance and the pattern we see in it is brilliantly rendered.

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There is so much going on here. The group is running from themselves as Samurai Warriors and getting farther and farther off track of where they are supposed to be going. Meanwhile watching everything is Cho and he’s enjoying the thrill of the chase as he thinks he’s in complete and utter control. Everything we see here is not what it appears to be and it’s glorious! The writing is superb and the characterisation is completely spot on while the interiors do a fabulous job in bringing it all to life. KISS is the jam and these stories are a treat every time they come out.