Nerds That Geek Comic Book Review: ‘Bubba Ho-Tep and the Cosmic Blood-Suckers’ #4

Written by John Edward Betancourt

​When we think of the word hero, certain images come to mind. We instantly think of comic book characters who wear capes and have super-strength, or we think of people who are one hundred percent willing to put themselves into harm’s way in order to save lives or make the world a safer place. But the fact of the matter is, sometimes heroism doesn’t come from a noble place. Sometimes people do the right thing out of fear. Because a fear for one’s own safety, and the safety of others is a powerful motivator to take action and while history will look upon the act as noble or just, those involved will always know, that their push to do something more came from a far different place.
 
Why all of that matters for the sake of this review, is because that alternate side of heroism, just so happens to be the focus of the fourth issue of Bubba Ho-Tep and the Cosmic Blood-Suckers. Because this particular tale, picks up almost immediately after the blood-bath of a battle featured in the prior issue, one where Jack was taken by the evil to be used as bait to draw out the King and his friends and while one’s first impression of such an act would be that our heroes would immediately venture out into the world and bring Jack home with guns blazing, that simply wasn’t the case here. Instead, what we were treated to was a hyper realistic debate as the team licked their wounds and took inventory upon the situation.
 
Which quite frankly was a genius stroke of storytelling. Because the team has now seen just how powerful and terrifying these beings really are, and any further action should give them pause since the danger is real and while the discussion as to whether or not to save Jack was fascinating in its own right, since it was in fact grounded in utter fear, what matters more here is that Elvis reached a point where he realized that inaction was a far worse way to go. It would mean horrible things for Jack and for others if they left the power of this monster unchecked and there was something supremely uplifting and powerful emanating from the page as he dug in and made the call to go after Jack and deal with this threat on its home turf.
 
If anything, the inspiration and wonder that came from watching Elvis make the call to play the hero and take the fight to evil only grew as the issue rolled on because the monsters simply didn’t expect a good ol’ fashioned ass whipping to come to their way, and while the team was a touch too late in saving Jack since the evil did unspeakable things to the poor man, and they were forced to bestow a merciful death upon him, they made every last creature pay and pay dearly for hurting their friend and hell, they even managed to force the big squirmy thing from another world to retreat and really when all is said and done, this issue was downright brilliant.
 
I loved how its themes were subtle yet powerful and that the action that was present in the last issue continued, and that every theme and concept this series has been working with comes together in magnificent and smooth fashion here and well, there’s a good reason as to why everything is assembled in this particular chapter because as it turns out, this served as the penultimate issue for this incredible tale. For the monster has returned home to gather reinforcements and the team is going to make sure that everything is safe at its base of operations before moving on, meaning that a powerful showdown is on its way for the finale and well, while this issue was powerful in its own right, discovering that the end of this story is near leaves me with a little sadness in my heart.
 
Because this has simply been a magnificent ride, and this kind of quality writing is just hard to come to by, and I really cannot get over the wonder of this adaptation of Joe Lansdale’s work. But, while the end is near, I have no doubt that the finale of this epic series will exceed my expectations thanks to the care that Writer Josh Jabcuga and Artist Tadd Galusha have put into every single page of this comic and while I wait for that powerhouse finale, I can bask in the wonder of this issue, the one that brought everything together and popped off the page with magnificent artwork as I quietly prepare myself for the end of one stunning journey. Until next time. 

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