Writers: Dan Watters and Ram V
Artists: Matthew Roberts
Colorist: Dave Stewart
Letterer: DC Hopkins
Designer: Jillian Crab
Editor: Alex Antone
Thanks to Image and Skybound for the review copy!
The next mini-series and collaboration from Skybound and Universal Monsters brings together a superstar writing team in Ram V and Dan Watters who currently handle writing duties on The One Hand and The Six Fingers, respectively. The Creature From The Black Lagoon is back in glorious technicolor!
After a great mini-series debut for team Dracula, I had just as high expectations for this series and its team of creators. They did not let me down! The Creature from the Black Lagoon has a long history of being one of the first monsters that made people think twice before stepping into the water. Long before Jaws, The Meg, or Piranha it was terrorizing moviegoers and swimmers. With this new take series Dan Watters and Ram V have found a way to take the original source material and come up with something entirely new and fresh. The book is both a murder mystery and a crime procedural at the same time which works to the strengths of both writers. Especially given the theme of the other current projects they are engaged somewhat together in. It’s atmospheric, dark, and moody. They’ve established the characters and set the tone for what is to come. It’s evident there are some nods to the original story as well for longtime fans. The art and colors are crisp, bold and detailed. The expressions of the characters rendered flawlessly to capture the emotion or situation in each panel. The creature, painted into the background so well in some panels, it’s almost as if we are meant to miss him lurking in the shadows. At one point I got the anxious feeling to scream out to the character on the page “Behind You!!”, haha. Even the lettering is perfectly placed and situated making for a very smooth and excellent paced read. I had a lot of fun reading this and I only wish it was a little longer. I highly recommend you adding this one to your pull list. Especially if you were a fan of the first Universal Monsters series Dracula. You won’t be disappointed!
My rating – 9/10 Excellent!
Universal Monsters: The Creature from the Black Lagoon Lives #1 is now available.
Are you going to pick up the comic? Have you already, if so what do you think of it? Feel free to leave a comment below or chat with us on Twitter/X at @TheConCollectve, Threads at @theconventioncollective, or Bluesky at @theconcollective.bsky.social
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