Rumble #4

By John Arcudi, James Harren, and Dave Stewart

Everything about Rumble is cool! The characters are diverse, the villains are compelling, the setting is drawn beautifully, and the plot is perfectly focused heading into the finale of the first story arc. Rumble #4 is a great comic and a must-read!

John Arcudi has maintained a perfect balance of revealing just enough to keep readers interested while telling a focused, thorough story to this point. Issue #4 hits on a bit of the demon history flashbacks, now through Cogan’s perspective, while also giving us some solid Rathraq, Bobby, and Del action in the present. We are being led directly to an end of the arc confrontation which is sure to be just as great as the build up has been. Arcudi includes a lot of deeper themes in this issue which is excellent to see. This issue has some existential musings from Bobby, some emotion in Rathraq commiserating with a three-legged stray dog, and some funny dialogue, especially from Cogan.

The art in this issue is incredible as usual. Each issue has been incredibly consistent in the design and coloring. James Harren and Dave Stewart have crafted a very unique world and from the first page you are immediately flung right back into the Rumble universe. The art is a great combination of cartoon and realistic styles. This issue has some great examples with Rathraq, a stylized scarecrow-god, walking down a street with such defined brick walls and graffiti designs. The aforementioned stray dog scene has some of the most realistic art in the series so far, to really convey the emotion that a three-legged stray in that situation would. Meanwhile the fight scenes are so effective in a cartoon-like style, especially Bobby’s solution for the fire demon. Stewart colors do a great job conveying the emotions in the art. It was interesting to see all of the scenes with dead bodies all taking darker blue and green tones while the scenes containing all living characters were well-lit reds and oranges.

This is a fantastic series heading into its first arc finale. Arcudi’s story telling has left so many possibilities for upcoming arcs to explore the many facets of the Rumble universe. You can’t help but be excited to see where Rumble heads next.