A little late review here, this issue was released last Wednesday, but it gives me a chance to start off this month with a bang. Tarot doesn’t actually make an appearance in this issue, which instead focuses on Raven Hex and Jon. Raven is reflecting on the deaths of her parents. She and Tarot’s father was killed when they were children, this took place before the series began, but their mother (who’s still unnamed) was killed in issue #115, in what I still consider a mistake as I really enjoyed that character. Raven, being a necromancer, is frustrated at her inability to resurrect either of her parents, especially her mother since that was more recent. So she seeks out Jon, who’s getting dressed in his Skeleton Man costume and getting ready to head to his job at the cemetery for the night, and confronts him about why he’s been unable to communicate with her mother’s spirit since he’s able to speak to ghosts. 

After an argument, Jon drives off, and he comes across an accident on the road, as a car swerves to avoid a deer and falls off-road. Jon gets out to help, he sees the car had a man and woman in it, the man is already dead but the woman is injured but still alive at the moment. But when Jon grabs her she dies and he’s somehow pulled into the realm of the dead, and finds himself in a wagon, along with the souls of the couple from the car, being silently driven by The Ferryman from Greek Mythology, to the Afterlife. Jon realizes that he needs to escape before it’s too late, but he also wants to rescue the woman’s soul, but she refuses to leave with him. The situation gets direr by the minute and in the end, Jon may have damned both her and him to be lost souls tormented for eternity. 

This issue really ramps up the “horror” aspect of this series. It’s dark and genuinely scary, especially once the scene turns to the realm of the dead. But even before that, we see Jon being tormented by an evil ghost in another frightening scene. This is a nice change of pace with the series, and I’m curious to see where writer/artist Jim Balent goes with this story.  The only complaint is, like with the last issue, there’s no nudity! I mean, Raven is in her usual barely-there outfit, but nothing comes off. 

The issue’s Broadsword Girl is pin-up model December Lace, and there’s also an alternate cover featuring Holly Golightly.

For an engaging and suspenseful scary story, this is the issue to read. Chacebook rating: FOUR STARS

AVAILABLE DIGITALLY ON COMIXOLOGY, OR IN PRINT FROM JIMBALENTSTUDIOS.COM