The End Times Are Upon Us In Babyteeth #16
by Josh Davison
[*Mild Spoilers Ahead!]
Five years have passed. We rejoin Sadie making a phone video to explain to Clark what happened the day Satan and his armies arrived on Earth. She tells of how Satan came through the portal and unveiled his true intentions, only to be slowed down by a still-alive Marty. This gave Sadie, Clark, Heather, Olivia, Simon, and Marty an opportunity to escape and hide. Satan hasn’t found them since, but they’ve still lost people. Hell as overrun Earth, and Sadie sees nothing else left to do but go back home to Salt Lake City.
Babyteeth #16 jumps us ahead five years in time through an apocalypse and into the post-apocalypse. Satan won, and Hell has spilled out onto Earth. It’s the biblical end times without any God or angelic host to fight back (yet at least).
The rather strange thing about this issue is how little is explained about those five years. We see what happens right after Sadie, Clark, and the others make it back through the Hell portal as Satan’s deception is revealed, and we see what just happened in the new present. The rest of it’s a blur, and that’s kind of a shame. We don’t often get to see what a Hell apocalypse looks like strangely enough.
Regardless, this is an interesting shift for the story. Our leads are left destitute and on the run just trying to survive what they accidentally helped unleash. The ending stinger is quite good too, and I look forward to seeing what comes next.
Garry Brown’s artwork remains a wondrous thing. His ability to craft the gritty detail of Babyteeth never ceases to amaze, especially now with the hellish apocalypse unleashed upon Earth. Mark Englert’s color work is great as well, with its mixture of darker tones and wilder purples and reds.
Babyteeth #16 is another wild and engaging installment for this long-running AfterShock series. We get to see an apocalpyse unleashed as our heroes try desperately to survive and maybe even send Satan and his demons back from whence they came. It’s a solid read and is worth another recommendation. Check it out.
Babyteeth #16 comes to us from writer Donny Cates, artist Garry Brown, color artist Mark Englert, letterer Taylor Esposito, and cover artist Garry Brown with Mark Englert.
Final Score: 8/10
