Collins reveals Arcane’s master plan. After a hundred plus issues, dying multiple times, going to Hell, escaping Hell, going back to Hell, old Anton has exactly the same plan he had when he first appeared.
But the lack of ambition from penciller Braun actually helps out here. One can’t confuse Swamp Thing with a good comic anymore, not with Arcane dragging hostage Abby out like the Bride of Frankenstein at the end, not with Collins turning the guy Abby went out with once into the love of her life.
Not with Braun giving Constantine some slicked back nineties hair.
The comic’s a joke. Laughing helps one get through it. Collins has seven or eight characters to manage in the issue and she does awful with them. There’s not a single honest conversation; though she does get in a pointless origin of a villain.
Pointless sums it up in general, actually.
CREDITS
Dead Relatives; writer, Nancy A. Collins; penciller, Russell Braun; inker, Kim DeMulder; colorist, Tatjana Wood; letterers, Tim Harkins and John Costanza; editor, Stuart Moore; publisher, Vertigo.
I assumed Collins would handle the return of Arcane, Alec’s embrace with Lady Jane and everything else this issue rather poorly. But she outdoes herself. It’s even worse than expected–possibly because Arcane reveals himself here, which seems somewhat early. But there are a lot of suspects for Collins’s worst move.