NATURE’S LABYRINTH #4, from Mad Cave Studios on February 22, 2023, continues the next leg of the competition and whittles down the contestant count to four.
The Details
- Written by: Zac Thompson
- Art by: Bayleigh Underwood
- Colors by: Warnia Sahadewa
- Letters by: Rus Wooton
- Cover art by: Filya Bratukhin, Jason Wordie
- Comic Rating: Teen+
- Cover price: $3.99
- Release date: February 22, 2023
Is It Good?
It’s not clear what’s happening in NATURE’S LABYRINTH #4. To be blunt, it’s not clear if Zac Thompson knows what’s going on in NATURE’S LABYRINTH #4. There’s chaos, weird booby traps, and death, but the one question that glaringly sits in the middle of the story like a rainbow-colored unicorn is the most important question of all – why?
When last we left the contestants, they were pinned down at checkpoint #3, a mild oasis intended to give everyone a breather until the timer runs out. Now, the contestants are pinned down in a firefight with the newly-introduced henchmen from the previous issue, and chaos ensues.
The trouble with getting into Zac Thompson’s story is the randomness of it all, not just the booby traps. Issue #3 spent a lengthy amount of time introducing and setting up a pair of henchmen, but they’re unceremoniously killed in the first few pages of issue #4 without any impact on the story. Landscapes shift and mutate to impossible extremes that don’t make sense. Weird, goblin-like children watch the show from the command center without an explanation of who or what they are. These examples, and several more, point to a story that’s a collection of ideas without any coherence. The premise of the game is the only thing holding this series together, and even then, it’s still not clear why the game exists or who’s behind it.
There’s not much to critique because very little about this comic makes sense. It could best be described as people doing things. Is the pacing good? Sorta, kinda, maybe. How about the dialog? When every other sentence is “%#&” or “Please don’t kill me!,” you’re not going to win any Eisners anytime soon. How about the plot? When one becomes evident (besides survival), we’ll let you know.
The art is fine. The characters have memorable designs, even if you don’t know enough about them to remember their names. The action is loud and energetic, and the coloring is solid. This is a case where the art exceeds the writing, if that helps.
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What’s It About?
[SPOILERS AHEAD – Click here if you just want the score without spoilers]
Check out our NATURE’S LABYRINTH #3 review to find out what happened when the survivors reached checkpoint #3.
We begin in the middle of the firefight that broke out at the end of the previous issue. The henchmen, introduced in the previous issue, die almost immediately. Most of the contestants flee into the jungle toward the next checkpoint.
Along the way, the contestants encounter crushing walls, exploding dolls, and trap doors. We conclude the issue with more running and fewer contestants.
Keep scrolling for a closer look at preview images of the internal pages, or Click Here to jump right to the score.
Final Thoughts
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NATURE’S LABYRINTH #4 is another issue of random action followed by random action as the contestants race to survive a deadly island. The booby traps are wild, and the art is solid, but the paper-thin plot, impossible developments, and utter lack of character development or motivations make this series tough to get through.
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