BOUNTIFUL GARDEN #4 – Review

In BOUNTIFUL GARDEN #4, from Mad Cave Studios on December 15th, 2021, Marnie and Jonas come face-to-face with the creeping lifeforms on the planet’s surface. Meanwhile, Anya searches for Jane along the ship’s darkening corridors.

The Details

• Written By: Ivy Noelle Weir
• Art By: Kelly Williams
• Colors By: Giorgio Spalletta
• Letters By: Justin Birch
• Cover Art By: Kelly Williams
• Cover Price: $3.99
• Release Date: December 15, 2021

Wait! Don’t Forget To Sign Up For The Comical Opinions Newsletter.

Was It Good?

BOUNTIFUL GARDEN #4 is a mixed bag of effective horror and out-of-place dialog that makes for an uneven reading experience.

The central premise of this series is both it’s strength through its uniqueness and its weakness through its execution. That’s a fancy way of saying it’s weird but the weird doesn’t always work. If you’re new to the title, the basic plot is about a long-distance space trip interrupted by a mysterious planet with alien plant life. It’s Alien (1979) but the unique twist is that the crew is completely composed of children.

It’s sounds weirdly cool on paper (no pun intended), but the details so far have struggled to completely sell you on how it all works. In the last issue, the story took a noticeable upturn in enjoyment by staying away from the logistics and focusing on the horror of the chase. The emotional build up hit all the right beats, and it was the best of the series to date.

In this issue, we get back to the kids with a fair bit of exposition dialog. While the background information on Jonas and Marnie is good character building and helps inform the readers about their motivations, it hinders the story in two key areas. First, these kids have very little desire to be terraforming colonists and they’re largely on this mission for secondary reasons – e.g. money or proving something to their family. It takes you right back to the hard-to-swallow central premise by validating that these kids are ill-suited (emotionally, psychologically, etc.) for this mission. Second, the dialog is wildly out of character for kids of this age. What tween says phrases like “stress-induced fugue state”?

I want to like this title, but the premise has to walk a very thin line to be believable. It doesn’t serve the title when the writing keeps stepping off that line.

That said, the horror elements in this story are surprisingly effective, particularly from the excellent execution of creepiness by Williams. Little noises come from dark corners, and the kids freeze in expressions of abject fear when something terrifying or tragic happens (we get a little of both). The parts of the story squarely focused on fear and horror work well, so on that point, the book is successful.

What’s It About?

[SPOILERS AHEAD – Click here if you just want the score without spoilers]

To get caught up with Jonas, Marnie, Jane, and Anya, first read our BOUNTIFUL GARDEN #3 review.

We begin with Jane, machete in hand, cautiously searching for Jane through the ship’s corridors. Jane isn’t responding to calls, and Anya is jumping at ticks, clicks, and snaps from every shadowy corner.

On the planet below, Jonas and Marnie figure out the life readings on their sensors are reacting to slithering vines that appear to be moving toward them. Afraid for their lives, the duo runs from the temple ruins. Outside and out of ideas, the two begin a lengthy conversation about what motivated them to join the mission in the first place. As their talk concludes, an unnoticed vine wraps itself around Jonas’s leg, forcing Marnie to take action.

Meanwhile, we find Jane hiding in her cryo lab. Several containers of her organically grown meat substitute are missing or broken open. She approaches the last vile left and vows to protect it. We conclude the issue with Jonas acknowledging Marnie’s strength and Anya making a deadly discovery.

Final Thoughts

BOUNTIFUL GARDEN #4 is a mixed bag of effectively creepy horror elements and strangely out-of-place exposition dialog. The art services the story well by capturing the right tone of fear, but the exposition both helps the character development and breaks the suspension of disbelief.

Score: 7/10

As an Amazon Associate, we earn revenue from qualifying purchases to help fund this site. Links to Blu-Rays, DVDs, Books, Movies, and more contained in this article are affiliate links. Please consider purchasing if you find something interesting, and thank you for your support.