Empty Man #4 Review

Writer: Cullen Bunn
Artist: Jesus Hervas
Colorist: Niko Guardia
Letterer: Ed Dukeshire
Publisher: Boom! Studios

This new Empty Man series has consistently been creeping me out from its beginning and this fourth issue successfully achieved that again. The empty stares in the children’s eyes on the first page are enough to terrify anyone, but Cullen Bunn doesn’t stop there. Once again, we get a taste at just how disturbing and horrifying the Empty Man virus can be when inside of someone. And to push it further, we now get to see that the Empty Man virus is even more horrifying when it leaves a body.

This fourth issue follows our group of main characters as they escape their cultist attackers in a bloody and exciting scene. This causes the virus to take form in a very creepy way that I absolutely loved. This issue also reveals Jensen’s motivation for helping this family.

We are beginning to see the story take its form as more than an amazing horror story but one that is also very dramatic and scary in a “real life” kind of way. In this issue, the characters become a little more relatable which is making the situation stranger because it is beginning to hit closer to home. This issue is also starting to peel back the skin on how many layers Bunn has written into this series. We are starting to dive deep into the adventurous world that he has created for this story and I am on board.

Of course, a major part of why this issue is so horrifying, as I know I have mentioned several times now, is because Jesus Hervas has illustrated some very intense and violent scenes. There is a lot to look at in this fourth issue and Hervas used all of those visuals to create an experience that allows us to feel like we’re running away with our group of main characters. There is also a lot more darkness within this issue especially since this very hectic situation is happening at night, but colorist Niko Guardia is responsible for beautifully setting the dark and bloody tone with their colors.

Empty Man #4 speeds things up for the series and does it as wonderfully as its done everything so far. This week’s issue is gory and thrilling with smooth writing and fantastically eerie artwork.