A wedding is a beautiful thing, right? Maybe not when you live in a world where the latest street drug craze is The Ash, a hallucinogenic that is made from ashes of the dead.
SPOILERS BELOW FOR ISSUES #1-4
In the first four issues, the reader is taken into the world of The Ash. Other drug cartels have decided they want The Ash for themselves, and they target the Winters family, creators of The Ash, for control. After Wade, son of Winters family head Grace, is murdered, Grace goes after all of the families in brutal fashion, using their drug to go after all who oppose her.
In stark contrast to where issue #4 left off, Bone Parish #5: Death Is a Doorway starts out with a most joyous event: the wedding of Grace to now-deceased husband Andre. But, the reader quickly learns, through overlapped dialogue from the present, that the wedding is only in Grace’s mind as she attends Wade’s funeral. The dialogue also acts as a reminder of her husband’s death, and that they, too, will one day be reunited – that he is dead, and she must say goodbye, no longer allowing him to come to her while she is high on The Ash.
The scene also ignites a family feud when Brae suggests that sister Brigitte may have kept some of Wade’s ashes to use in a future concoction of The Ash. Rightfully so, Brigitte takes issue with this and leaves before saying her final words to Wade. The contentious, but heartbreaking, funeral then gives way to a lot of behind-the-scenes play, with new characters being introduced to the battle for control of The Ash. And, there are some serious consequences brewing for the actions in issues 1-4 on all sides.
Bone Parish #5 keeps pace with the previous issues on dealing the reader plenty of surprises and promises of a lot more action to come. Writer Cullen Bunn has managed once more to continue his brilliant plot, weaving in suspense and tension at every turn. Each scene in this issue is more suspenseful than the last, with an ending that makes me wish issue #6 would be released immediately. This series of comics has proven one of the hardest for me to be patient while awaiting the next issue.
That is not only due to Bunn’s incredible storytelling, but also Jonas Scharf’s beautiful art, portraying each character and scene so perfectly. The art in this issue wonderfully balances the beauty, the sadness, the evil, and the horror of Bunn’s writing. Though colors of panels taking place in the past stand out, Alex Guimãraes does a great job throughout. The last three pages of this comic are flawlessly colored, particularly the last page. I won’t give away details, but every detail on that last page is absolutely amazing. As if that wasn’t enough to lure the reader, Lee Garbett’s multi-faceted cover conveys so much that it is worth a close study both before and after one has read the issue.
Bone Parish #5: Death Is a Doorway is another great entry into an already perfect series. It is, in fact, the best year-end present BOOM! Studios could give horror comic book fans. The only thing better would be if they would announce that they were magically releasing the rest of the series, as well.
Creative Team: Writer – Cullen Bunn; Artist – Jonas Scharf; Colors – Alex Guimãraes; Letters – Ed Dukeshire; Cover – Lee Garbett; Variant Cover –Tyler Crook
Publisher: BOOM! Studios
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