BY THE HORNS #8, from Scout Comics on November 24th, 2021, concludes the the original arc with a desperate battle to stop Feng Po from taking over the world with her magic-powered ship.
The Details
- Written By: Markisan Naso
- Art By: Jason Muhr
- Colors By: Andrei Tabacaru
- Letters By: Jason Muhr
- Cover Art By: Jason Muhr, Andrei Tabacaru
- Cover Price: $3.99
- Release Date: November 24, 2021
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Was It Good?
Normally, these reviews cover the writing and story first, but for this one, let’s cover the art first since that critique is much less complicated. Muhr’s art, coupled with Tabacaru’s colors, is some of the best art among all the small-to-medium publishers right now. Period. Full stop. It’s just gorgeous, and Scout is lucky to have this art team.
On to the story with a little background. This issue was originally intended to be the end of a limited run, so for all intents, this is a finale issue. But now, it’s simply the end of the first arc. On that count, it feels like an ending chapter that wraps up most of the threads with a neat little bow and keeps the door open for more challenges to come. Now that it’s been confirmed By The Horns has been approved as an on-going title, we can expect those challenges in the near future. So, issue #8 succeeds in concluding the arc in a relatively satisfying way.
However, there is a glaring absence in the conclusion. We were put off by a last-page twist at the end of issue #5 revealing Elodie’s husband was not dead and that the unicorn’s had offered to heal him from his coma. Finding a way to save a loved one is not a bad thing in and of itself, but the revelation (further clarified in a flashback issue later on) confirms Elodie is a unicorn murderer who felt justified in her actions over what was later confirmed to be an accident.
Some may take exception to that characterization. That’s okay. Not everyone agrees on everything.
The hope was that the story would play out somehow where Elodie would need to come to terms with the murders she’s committed and find some way to grow through her guilt and acceptance of her actions. The finale not only doesn’t address this major plot point in a satisfying way, it doesn’t address it at all. Once the team saves the day against the evil Feng Po, they simply walk away until next time. It’s not clear which would be more frustrating – not addressing Elodie’s murders adequately or not addressing them at all. We get the latter here, and it’s a frustrating miss.
Well, it is what it is. We’re were very critical of issue #5’s big turn, and it seems that criticism (so far) has proven correct. That said, the title is now an on-going, and with more issues, there’s more opportunity to set things right. We sincerely hope for greater things in the future for this title, and we’ll be waiting when they come.
What’s It About?
[SPOILERS AHEAD – Click here if you just want the score without spoilers]
It’s been a while since the last issue, so catch up by first reading our BY THE HORNS #7 review.
We begin with Evelyn and Zoso bluffing their way onto Feng Po’s ship by Evelyn pretending to have captured Zoso. The bluff works, and once inside, they manage to find Eldoie and Sajen to coordinate their efforts. Evelyn and Zoso head off to find a way to disable the ship. Elodie and Sajen start towards the bridge to confront, and hopefully kill, Feng Po.
When Evelyn and Zoso find the engine room, they’re horrified to find unicorns, including Rigby, are being drained of magic to power the ship. Zoso wails for Evelyn to shut the engines down and end the unicorns’ suffering. Evelyn reluctantly agrees, sending the airship into free fall.
Meanwhile, Elodie and Sajen surprise everyone on the ship’s bridge and leap into attack mode. We conclude the issue with a pitched battle between wizard and unicorn-killer as the ship hurtles to the ground below.
Final Thoughts
BY THE HORNS #8 ends the inaugural arc of the series with tons of visual appeal, exciting action sequences, and a reasonable ending to the Feng Po conflict. That said, the major plot point of Elodie’s mis-deeds against the unicorns is not addressed at all, making for a half-frustrating conclusion.
Score: 7.5/10
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