Coffin Hill #4 was Dead on Arrival

Coffin Hill #4

Published by Vertigo (DC Comics)

Written by Caitlin Kittredge

Art by Inaki Miranda & Eva de la Cruz

Just as this book was making such strides in the right direction with issues #2 and #3, issue #4 seems to be plagued by all of the problems that issue #1 had.

Writer Caitlin Kittredge had a very interesting direction — although very Dresden Files-like — that she was setting up for the lead character Eve Coffin. While assisting on a case of some missing children, she sees parallels to the horrifying event that claimed the life of one of her friends eleven years earlier. The pacing and dialogue are still as strong as the last two issues (where the flashbacks flowed much better). That all seems like it was pissed away for a plot twist that everyone saw coming. To add insult to injury, more of the same tired tropes that plagued issue #1 sprout back up here. Although those were just witchcraft ideas we’ve seen a hundred times. This time there’s one from bad ’80s drama/soap opera that was so obvious that the character being manipulated must have been an elementary school dropout.

The art is as solid as ever, with Inaki Miranda being able to balance the police procedural aspect with the horror story element with equal effectiveness. Eva de la Cruz doesn’t have many flashbacks here, so my gripe with lack of palette changing between past and present story lines isn’t a factor here. The brighter colors really do offset some of the more frightening moments, and that she pulls this off is a credit to her talent.

After a near train wreck of a start, Kittredge was going to some interesting places. Maybe we’ve seen it before, but not quite in this manner. It’s a shame that after two strong issues, the book has taken two huge steps backward.  – 2.5 out of 5.