It’s a race against time as Sir Maurice Newbury and Miss Veronica Hobbes square off against Aubrey Knox in the explosive conclusion to “The Undying!”

NEWBURY & HOBBES: THE UNDYING #4

Writer: George Mann
Artist: Dan Boultwood
Letterer: Rob Steen
Publisher: Titan Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: January 30, 2019

Previously in Newbury & Hobbes: The Undying:  Aubrey Knox is still alive, and leads the skull-faced cult. He had come perilously close to dying, and now has a brass exoskeleton. He is also triggering explosions all around London. Queen Victoria summons Newbury and gives him 24 hours to deal with Knox, who has been threatening her as well. The investigation takes Newbury and Hobbes back to the Archibald Theatre, where they find a woman tied up on stage. More than that, she is one of the unlucky victims who has a bomb implanted in her chest – and she explodes, taking the theatre with her! After another tussle with cult members, Newbury and Hobbes arrive home, only to find his servant, Scarbright, unconscious and with a bomb implanted in his chest!

A RACE AGAINST TIME!

Newbury & Hobbes: The Undying #4 start right off with our title characters agonizing over Scarbright and realizing they can’t do anything for him, short of finding Knox. The clock strikes, and Newbury recalls Knox’s last note, “Tick, tock! Tick tock!” Knox needs height to transmit across the city to all his bombs; he must be atop Big Ben.

Newbury and Hobbes hop into a cab and head off through the rain. Shortly, the cabbie lets them know some friends must be trying to get their attention. But these are no friends – it’s members of the skull-faced cult, armed and shooting at them. Their cab pulls alongside, and the plucky Hobbes leaps across, punches a cultist, grabs his gun, and tosses it to Newbury. (I like her!) She does some further maneuvering that allows Sir Maurice to take down the rest of the cultists before their cab tips over and explodes.

Newbury leaps out of his own cab and rushes over to Veronica – but she is okay, although a bit shaken. More cultists arrive, and this time it is his turn to fight them off.

Then they reach Big Ben – and a whole lot of stairs to climb. Hobbes hangs back to deal with Knox’s familiar, and Newbury faces off with Knox in a classic sword fight amongst the inner workings of the clock. Knox, in his powerful exoskeleton, flings Newbury over the edge. He catches on to a ledge, and Knox decides to set off his bombs before finishing Newbury off. But Miss Hobbes arrives in the nick of time and pushes Knox over the edge. I really do find it fun that she is capable, and effective in a fight.

Amazingly. Knox survives to crawl away, into the sewer. Ah, the sewer…remember, a couple issues ago, there is a community of monstrous people living in the sewer, and they may have some opinions about Knox…

Scarbright survives, and the bomb is removed from his chest. Likewise, other victims of Knox’s nefarious surgeries are gradually rescued. It turns out that this was all related to a eugenics program that the Queen was involved in. Complicated dealings, indeed. But they don’t have much time to discuss this. Charles stops by – there’s been a disturbance in Dulwich – something to do with witches. Never a moment’s peace for Newbury and Hobbes.

ACTION PACKED

I do like the art in Newbury & Hobbes: The Undying #4. There is a distinct steampunk flavor that runs throughout, both in the decorative edges to some of the panels and in the interior art. For example, in the chase scene with the cabs, those cabs are steam powered. They still have the large wheels that one sees in horse-drawn cabs, but there’s additional space for a boiler. The cabbie still sits outside. It’s a cool design that really fits this world we’re in.

The fight scenes are dynamic, hitting beats you might see in a movie. I like the way it’s choreographed. I like that Hobbes is in her long skirt and how it flies out behind her as she leaps to the villains’ cab. I like the way that this all takes place in the rain with background colors that bring to mind skies full of sooty smoke.

Newbury also has a fantastic fight scene. The sword fight is visually exciting with the clockwork in the background. There’s a lovely panel where the two men are silhouetted against the interior of one of the glass clock faces. Knox’s exoskeleton also makes interesting sound effects – not constantly, but just enough to feel dramatically appropriate. Characters are rendered in a slightly exaggerated style, but the lines they hold add impact to the action.

BOTTOM LINE: TRULY ENJOYABLE

The story is wrapped up tidily in Newbury & Hobbes: The Undying #4. The main characters are tough, interesting, and capable. The villain has all the hallmarks of a great recurring villain of the kind we love to hate. I like setting up Queen Victoria in this world as being capable and morally ambiguous – it adds some terrific tension.

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