With the Artifacts maxi-series having kicked off in such an enjoyable way, I’m trying to get back into the Top Cow universe. There’s such a mythos to all of it now that it seems a bit daunting at times, but I remember when The Darkness first started coming out how much fun it was to have this straight-up horror/brawler comic book.

The Darkness: Four Horsemen really gets back to those roots. David Hine pulls off the “more showing, less telling” trick to make sure you get the gist of Jackie Estacado and quickly drops him into a fight, followed by a set up against biker-gang representations of the biblical Four Horsemen that will take us through the rest of the 4 issues. It reads very much like the first 20 minutes of a fun action movie. I’m not holding my breath at the Oscars, but I won’t regret paying full price. Maybe popcorn. But not pizza, that’s ri-goddam-diculous expensive.

The art on this really caught my eye. It’s not a super stylized digital painting, nor does it go for the beefcake/cheesecake angle that I seem to associate with Top Cow’s style. Instead, Wamester’s pencils look a bit more from the school of Ryan Ottley, with Serrano’s colors and Peteri’s letters adding to that feeling of trying to draw some of those Invincible fans over to the occult world of The Darkness. If these names are in any way also regulars on Invincible, please correct me and I’ll differ to someone more familiar with their works, its just how it all struck me.

Definitely recommended for established fans and anyone looking to learn about one of the primary characters of Artifacts without the weight of a lot of continuity baggage.