VAN HELSING: FINDING NEVERLAND, from Zenescope Entertainment on 5/3/23, continues Liesel Van Helsing’s quest to undo the damage of her father’s experiments and Taylor Frankenstein’s obsession.
The Details
- Written by: Pat Shand
- Art by: Hakan Aydin
- Colors by: Grostieta
- Letters by: Taylor Esposito
- Cover art by: Geebo Vigonte (cover A)
- Comic Rating: Teen+
- Cover price: $5.99
- Release date: May 3, 2023
Is It Good?
VAN HELSING: FINDING NEVERLAND takes Liesel Van Helsing’s episodic adventures to new and unexpected places in this latest installment from Zenescope and Pat Shand. Filled with whimsical action, escalating threats, and an (almost) satisfying conclusion, this issue is a keeper.
When last we left Liesel Van Helsing and Julie Jekyll, the pair pursued Taylor Frankenstein through a portal to parts unknown. Now, Liesel and Julie land in Neverland, pursued by cyborg crocodiles and steampunk fairies while evading traps and robot soldiers. Eventually, all roads lead to one old threat, one new threat, and the promise of more troubles to come.
In terms of quality and value, you get a lot of story for the cover price. Pat Shand crams in everything from secret bases to deadly tribunals to nefarious machines and more, making Liesel’s first trip to Neverland memorable. Shand’s pacing is brisk, the dialog/narration fits the characters, and the plot borrows from an earlier storyline in a way that fits a persistent villain.
That said, the benefit of Shand’s brisk pace is also its rough spot. A good chunk of the story takes place between the last one-shot (see Van Helsing: Sins of the Father) and this one, but you don’t see any of that story happen except through a very extensive flashback montage. You get the strong impression there should have been another one-shot between Sins of the Father and this one, but Shand does what he can with the space given. Still, it feels like there’s more story than pages, so the first part of this issue comes off as a shortcut.
How’s the art? It’s excellent. Hakan Aydin’s figure work is phenomenal, and Grostieta’s color palette selection and application are first-rate. In fairness, the highlighting looks odd, as in, you can’t tell which direction the lighting is coming from, but Grostieta’s shading application is so good, the inconsistent highlights aren’t strongly off-putting.
Keep scrolling for a closer look at the covers, or Click Here to jump right to the story description with some spoilers.
What’s It About?
[SPOILERS AHEAD – Click here if you just want the score without spoilers]
We begin with Liesel Van Helsing and Julie Jekyll pursuing a fairy with mechanized wings through the forest. Liesel snags the fairy and interrogates the magical being to find out who is trying to kill them.
Through a lengthy Q&A and montage flashback, we learn Liesel and Julie pursued Taylor Frankenstein through a portal and wound up in Neverland. The fairy claims to be sent by somebody who wants to help Liesel and Julie get home, but Julie and Liesel are wary after narrowly escaping an army of robots controlled by Abraham Van Helsing – a Van Helsing from an alternate dimension he previously tried to steal Earth’s sand to make a dangerous drug.
We conclude the issue with killer Crocs (no, not that kind), killer robots, and killer pans.
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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VAN HELSING: FINDING NEVERLAND continues Liesel van Helsing’s quest to undo the damage of her father’s work. Pat Shand gives you tons of stroy for the cover price, and the art looks great. However, there’s almost too much story for the page count, and it looks like a few shortcuts were taken.
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