My Rating
“The Shadows”
“The Gatherers”
Mount Vernon, Virginia, 1799. A small gathering of family members has come together to say goodbye to former President George Washington.
Dr. James Craik arrived earlier that morning with a diagnosis that Martha Washington simply refuses to accept. George had complained of a cold, yes, but he had seemed in good spirits. How could her husband deteriorate so quickly?
Martha suspects something else happened to George the previous day. Something inside the hanging woods east of their mansion.
Outside the estate, a black coach slowly passes unnoticed.
From behind its windows, glowing yellow eyes peer toward Mount Vernon as dry, crackling voices discuss their latest failure. George Washington possessed exactly the genetic traits they desired. His bloodline carried the potential for tremendous psychic abilities.
There was only one problem.
Washington was too old to reproduce.
It mattered little now. The Gatherers had already frightened the former general into a state of shock. Whatever these creatures showed him—or did to him—inside those woods will remain a mystery.
For now.
Georgetown, Washington, D.C. – 2012
Jim Duffy and Zoe Davis sit in nineteenth-century bergère armchairs beside a warming fireplace inside Wintersgate Manor. Neither is particularly interested in the Baron’s hospitality.
They want answers.
Chief among them is one rather obvious question: how did they instantly travel from a sterile hospital corridor in South Carolina to the eccentric study of a Victorian mansion hundreds of miles away?
Baron Winters promises an explanation, but first he needs answers of his own.
He wants Zoe to describe the creatures that abducted her.
Then he asks about her baby.
Zoe freezes.
What baby?
She has absolutely no memory of being pregnant, much less giving birth. As far as Zoe is concerned, Baron Winters is either horribly mistaken or completely insane.
Unfortunately, Winters rarely asks questions unless he already knows the answer.
The mystery deepens as Jim and Zoe begin to realize that their encounter may be only the latest chapter in something stretching across generations. The creatures hunting them aren’t confined to 2012, either. Their influence reaches backward through history—even into the life of Jim’s own father, FBI agent Jim Duffy Sr., in 1955.
What are the shadow creatures attacking Jim and Zoe inside Wintersgate Manor? Why did those same forces target Jim Duffy Sr. decades earlier? Does Dr. Levine have evidence proving Zoe carried an abnormal child? What connection did the Gatherers have to George Washington?
And what in the hell are Generations One through Ten?
Collect the series to find out!
Reviewer Notes
Wow, things are getting very interesting indeed.
Marv Wolfman is crafting another time-jumping Night Force adventure, historical events be damned! This is exactly what I loved about the previous two volumes. Wolfman takes real people, places, and events, throws open the supernatural door, and asks us to imagine what might have been lurking in the shadows.
George Washington’s final illness? Nope. Maybe glowing-eyed creatures scared the hell out of him in the woods.
Welcome to Night Force!
This combination of horror, science fiction, history, and outright weirdness is where the series works best for me. If you’re looking for a good horror title buried inside the DC Universe, Night Force is worth checking out. Depending upon the storyline, you’ll encounter everything from religious mysteries and demons to witches, warlocks, psychic phenomena, time travel, and whatever other insanity Wolfman decides to throw into Wintersgate Manor.
I was especially happy with this issue, and Kassandra Fey continues to interest me. Baron Winters, meanwhile, is still Baron Winters. He can be a dick, but I suppose that comes with the territory when your job involves maintaining some mysterious balance between good and evil. The people around him are pieces on a chessboard, and Winters rarely seems concerned about whether those pieces appreciate being moved.
My biggest request remains unchanged from Volume 2: give me more Merlin! Three volumes into this series and the leopard remains one of its biggest mysteries. We know he is more than an ordinary animal, so how about throwing us a bone, Marv? What is Merlin? Where did he come from? Why is he connected to Winters?
I’m giving Night Force Vol. 3 #2 four out of five stars. Issue #1 caught my attention, but this one hooked me. The Gatherers, Washington’s mysterious encounter, Zoe’s missing pregnancy, the Duffy family connection, and these strange numbered generations give Wolfman several mysteries to play with.
Now I want some answers.