The Assassin’s Limits In Eve Stranger #4
by Josh Davison
Mild Spoilers Ahead
Eve’s newest mission is the toughest one yet. A man approached E.V.E. claiming to be from the future where a fascistic British prime minister starts a nuclear war, and he wants Eve to kill the prime minister as a baby and change the future. Eve doesn’t want to do it, and she gives up after entering the room and seeing the child. If Eve doesn’t complete the mission, she will die–but she can’t kill a kid. Is this the end for Eve? Or is there another way to change the future?
In the follow up story, Eve regales the reader with a story her Icelandic father told her when she was little.
Eve Stranger #4 gives Eve a mission she can’t succeed with the proposed assassination of a child. Eve can’t bring herself to do it, and it isn’t helped when she meets the child and her mother in person.
Much of the comic consists of Eve getting the mission and talking herself out of it when she meets the family. From there, we meet the little girl’s father, and the twist becomes apparent. I won’t spoil it, but the comic does broadcast it pretty strongly.
Two details I particularly liked about the story is that whether the “time traveler” is authentic has no real bearing on the main thrust of the story and the fact that Eve has to grapple with the possibility she’s killed children before and just can’t remember it. The former helps keep this zany comic a modicum of grounding, and the latter is a pretty powerful bit of fleshing out Eve’s character while putting the reader in her mind.
The back-up story plays with the connection between itself and the main story a bit more, and it continues to be entertaining and cute.
The final twist of the issue is a bit of a shocker, and it has me genuinely eager for the Eve Stranger finale.
Philip Bond continues to give the book a great aesthetic which perfectly jives with the tone of the narrative. Eve continues to be that perfect mixture of dangerous, quirky, expressive, and cute. The action scenes are well-realized, and colorist Eve de la Cruz gives the book an excellent and wild palette.
Eve Stranger #4 is another strong issue form this Black Crown title. We get to see Eve struggle with an especially cruel mission from her superiors, and her struggle with the people controlling her seems to be coming to a head. It’s a great read from beginning to end, and it’s easily worth a recommendation. Feel free to give it a read.
Eve Stranger #4 comes to us from writer David Barnett, artist and cover artist Philip Bond, color artist Eva de la Cruz, and letterer Jane Heir.
Final Score: 8.5/10