Janine Godbe has a problem: It’s hard to live life as a hero when even YOU don’t know who you really are. Your Major Spoilers review of Hallows’ Eve #2 from Marvel Comics awaits!

HALLOWS’ EVE #2

Writer: Erica Schultz
Artist: Michael Dowling
Colorist: Brian Reber
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna
Editor: Nick Lowe
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: April 19, 2023

Previously in Hallows’ Eve: Like most of her life, every step forward for Hallows’ Eve leads to five steps back. Her mystical masks give her abilities like you’ve never seen, but power on this level attracts all kinds of people hunting it down.

THE POWER OF PROJECT PURGATORY

Last issue, Hallows’ Eve tried to rob a bank in order to fund an escape from New York, but was caught by a policeman and forced to use her Werewolf Mask to escape. What she didn’t expect was for the man to himself become a werewolf! Now, she’s on her way to try and make things right, unaware that her former boss at the Beyond Corporation, Maxine Danger, is onto her, thanks to a DNA test of werewolf hair. (That’s… a choice?) Thanks to her Police Officer mask, Hallows’ Eve is able to crash the investigation into the missing cop, which leads her to him, but she chooses to use her Vampire Mask’s flight powers to follow. By the time she finds the transport, her blood hunger has grown so strong that things may get a little… murdery?

FEELS LIKE IT LACKS A CENTER

Having missed most of the issues that led up to Janine’s new super-powered persona, I had to do a little digging to find the backstory, which led me to read issues one and two back-to-back and… I’m puzzled at what’s happening in this issue. With Ben Reilly becoming King Chasm, Hallows’ Eve feels like an orphaned character, and this issue doesn’t add much to help define her. Much as with Jackpot a few years ago, our main character is defined almost entirely by her relationship with a Spider-Man, remaining a cipher throughout this story. Dowling’s art is more successful than the story, but it has rough moments that are very distracting throughout the issue. There’s an odd blur effect applied to the entire police interrogation scene that bothers me, and the flat coloring doesn’t really help matters, either. I do enjoy the first appearance of Hallows’ Eve’s  Black Cat and Vampire transformations, but there’s a stiffness to both those splashes that makes them feel more like character posters than images in an ongoing storyline.

BOTTOM LINE: COULD BE SOMETHING SPECIAL 

The big takeaway from Hallows’ Eve #2 for me is the sense that nobody knows why this story is a standalone tale and not something appearing in a Spider-book, with a story that has intriguing moments, but a very vague sense of who the main character is, and art that isn’t half-bad, earning 2 out of 5 stars overall. I like the concept of the Limbo Masks and there are bits of this story that could make for something unique and fun, even if it’s not quite there yet, so I will be checking in with this character in the near future.

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HALLOWS' EVE #2

43%

43%

Needs An Identity

The concepts here have legs and Janine is an interesting character, but the issue exists in the shadow of a Ben Reilly story from 2019. If they can find their footing, this team could have something here.

• Writing

  4
• Art

  5
• Coloring

  4
• User Ratings (0 Votes)
  0