Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Writer: Mark Alan Miller, Joe R. Lansdale
Artist: Piotr Kowalski
Colorist: Kelly Fitzpatrick
Release Date: 20th Jan 2015

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Well, The Steam Man started in a fairly lukewarm manner, and has just improved with each issue that’s passed. Does it continue to do so in issue 4? Let’s see.

This issue picks up immediately where issue 3 leaves off, with the morlocks attacking the crew inside the Steam Man, while they are working hard to make the Steam Man take out the giant wooden creature that attacked it in the last issue.

It’s a truly dark issue. There are moments of light and levity (John Feather has always had a decent bit of banter with Captain Beadle, and his reaction when Feather confesses to him in the middle of the firefight that he has always wanted to fuck him is priceless. Truly, it is as described, “a capital ribbing”, but these moments are outweighed by the truly desperate situation that the crew finds themselves in.

This is the issue where everything escalates, and goes horribly wrong for the crew of the Steam Man. Although they put up a valiant defence, the crew are taken by the dark rider and his army of morlocks, and then they are brutalised. Properly brutalised. Crew members are impaled, and one is crucified in the manner of St Peter (upside down dontcha know). It’s raw, it’s pitiless, and it’s inhuman.

What I really like about this series so far is that I have absolutely no clue where it is going next, and I don’t really know how it’s going to get there either. This uncertainty is refreshing and along with the promise of what has gone before, helps to keep me reading.

If you haven’t already had a look, you should. The story is crazy, and the artwork fits with the steampunk craziness. The scores on the doors so far for the series have been issue 1 (3), issue 2 (4), issue 3 (4). This issue is also worthy of a 4/5.

Rating: 4/5.

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PREVIEW ARTWORK
[Click to Enlarge]

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The writer of this piece was: John Wallace
John Tweets from @jmwdaredevil

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