Comic Review: Penny Dreadful: The Awakening #2.6

Synopsis: An ill wind blows through the streets…

The battle lines are being drawn, and it appears that Lucifer’s forces are swelling in number. With Sir Malcolm gone, his friends are scattered across the city of London, and there us nothing to stem the flow of horror as it infects the hearts and souls of mankind.

But the faint light of hope shines from the most unlikely of places. Under the watchful eyes of Mother Joan, Lily is preparing to engage with forces even she fears, in the belief that humanity has not yet been completely lost in the encroaching darkness.

Review: After the boilerplate meets, greets, and slashes of issue #5, Penny Dreadful: The Awakening #2.6 was a much more interesting experience. Make no mistake, there was the same amount of exposition and table setting as the previous issue. However, writer Chris King gave us mythology-based exposition and table setting for not one, but two, characters.

First, readers got marvelous layers of back story on Satan, Lucifer, and Lilith. This was revealed through exquisite panels by artist Jesus Hervas and colorist Jason Wordie. These panels depicted their story within stained-glass windows. The broken stained-glass window obscuring the end was a great touch. The downside is readers were given a Mcguffin, and I hope this Mcguffin will be handled with finesse.

I also loved finally getting the Penny Dreadful version of Dorian Gray’s backstory. King moved his time-line back to 1610. This was an improvement on Oscar Wilde’s source material, which lacked scope. Readers finally met Lord Henry and Basil, and got variations on them that make sense in context.

Apart from the bits of world and literary mythology, though, my favorite plot points were the introduction of a female werewolf and the return of Sir Malcolm, albeit in spectral form. I’m really looking forward to the next issue.

Written by

Chris King

Art by

Jesus Hervas

Colored by

Jason Wordie

Cover by

Stephen Mooney

Published by

Titan Comics