My Rating
“Hallows’ Eve” — Issue #4
A standoff inside the Beyond Corporation headquarters has Hallows’ Eve and her friends cornered, but all is not lost. Janine Godbe reaches into her supernatural bag of tricks and pulls out the Witch Mask. Within seconds, the hostile negotiations take a magical turn as Janine clears a path for Marcus and Simon to escape.
The trio races toward the roof of the high-rise, but there is one small problem with their brilliant escape plan. How exactly are they supposed to get down? Stairs are out of the question, and jumping probably isn’t covered by anybody’s health insurance. Fortunately, Janine has another Halloween costume ready to go.
Time to fly—vampire style!
Elsewhere in downtown Manhattan, Detective Shari Sebbens is getting her ass chewed out by the police chief. Apparently, there is no Officer Reilly assigned to the 69th Precinct. Sebbens is at a loss for words as her superior starts throwing around terms like “Internal Affairs investigation.” Who was the mysterious Officer Reilly, and why was he impersonating a New York City police officer?
Before Sebbens can formulate a decent response, the entire city block begins to shake.
An earthquake? In Manhattan?!
Back at street level outside the Beyond Corporation, Janine has successfully landed with her two rescued companions. Unfortunately, freedom comes with another problem. The full moon is shining down, and Simon’s lycanthropy begins kicking into overdrive. Within moments, the infected security guard starts transforming into a full-blown werewolf.
Now comes the real test.
Janine has been wondering whether the Werewolf Mask that infected Simon might also hold the key to curing him. If the mask transferred the curse in the first place, could it somehow pull the lycanthropy back out? There is only one way to find out.
As Hallows’ Eve struggles with the fully transformed Simon, her magical bag is suddenly ripped from her body. Marcus dives after it, but he’s too late. The enchanted Halloween masks spill across the sidewalk!
Oh, that can’t be good.
With the ground shaking beneath Manhattan and supernatural masks scattered across the street, Janine’s already complicated night is about to get much worse. Whatever power is contained inside that bag may no longer belong exclusively to Hallows’ Eve.
Can a small force of police officers stop a werewolf and vampire battling in downtown Manhattan? Will Maxine Danger get her hands on the free-range masks before the seismic event concludes? Can Janine finally rid Simon of the werewolf curse she accidentally gave him? More importantly, what happens when the power of Limbo hits the streets of New York City? Collect the series to find out!
Reviewer Notes
Cliffhanger alert! Cliffhanger alert! Just when you think Janine Godbe’s life couldn’t possibly become more complicated, the power of the Limbo Dimension comes crashing into the streets of New York City. This issue was definitely a nice surprise. After three chapters of chasing Simon, fighting Beyond Corporation goons, and experimenting with the Halloween masks, I was beginning to wonder if the series was going to keep stringing us along until the finale. Nope! Issue #4 finally starts cashing some of those checks.
The biggest improvement is that the bag of masks feels like more than a simple superpower gimmick. Up to this point, Janine has basically reached inside whenever she needed a new ability. Vampire? Check. Werewolf? Check. Witch? Why not? This issue starts playing around with the larger possibilities of what those masks can do—and what could happen if Janine loses control of them. Once those masks hit the sidewalk, my interest level immediately went up. Suddenly, that bag feels less like a collection of Halloween costumes and more like a supernatural Pandora’s box.
I don’t want to spoil the final pages because the cliffhanger is easily the best part of the issue. I’ll simply say this: if you were sitting on the fence about dropping Hallows’ Eve, at least pick up issue #4. I was becoming a fence-sitter myself, but this was easily the strongest chapter of the miniseries so far. The story finally feels like it is building toward something bigger, and now I genuinely want to see what those new masks can do. I’m giving Hallows’ Eve #4 four out of five stars. One issue remains, and for the first time since starting this series, I can’t wait to see what Janine pulls out of the bag next.