Creepy Scarlett, the dead girl who loves candy and hears the voice of a stuffed bear, is back. I reviewed the original Creepy Scarlett volume back in September, and now Buchan has delivered a samurai-filled issue that goes back to explain some of the origins behind Scarlett.

The main plot of this issue centers around the Emerald of Lucifer, a powerful artifact, and the samurai warrior who has pledged an oath to keep it from the hands of evil. I’ve got no name for this guy, so we’ll refer to him as Samurai Guy from here on. Samurai Guy comes to Scarlett’s cemetery in 1919 looking to keep the Emerald safe and enlists her help to do so. These two are quite the unlikely pairing, with the Scarlett of 1919 being even more flighty and unfocused than the Scarlett of modern day. The training scenes between Samurai Guy and Scarlett are kind of cute but seem a bit forced at times, and there are one too many candy jokes for my tastes, making Scarlett feel more like a joke character than the hero of this tale, though she starts to pull it together as the tale progresses and the gravity of the situation sinks in.

Again, Creepy Scarlett excels when it’s in action, showing plenty of cool moves along the way. The art style is consistent and much improved, well-detailed, and with some absolutely fantastic character designs, especially with regard to the characters’ wardrobes, both Eastern and Western influences.

A few things happen in this issue that left me quite confused regarding the Creepy Scarlett story as a whole, but given that this is a new starting point of sorts, I may be looking too much into it. This first issue is laying the groundwork for the entire Emerald of Lucifer story and the origins of Creepy Scarlett after all and hints at shedding some light on the many questions I have in a future issue.

Creepy Scarlett & the Emerald of Lucifer #1 can be purchased over at Comics DriveThru.