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Gurgazon The Unclean Rampages In Ray Fawkes' Possessions: Book Four

By Cameron Hatheway

The apocalypse is upon us, for everyone's favorite Pit Demon Gurgazon the Unclean and her ghostly possessed friends have finally broken free of the wretched Llewellyn-Vane House and the clutches of the extremely keen-eyed "butler" Mr. Thorne. Next thing on the docket: destroy the world and bring forth total annihilation!

After a three year hiatus, Possessions, Book Four: The Final Tantrum is now available from Ray Fawkes and Oni Press. While Fawkes has been extremely busy with a plethora of projects from DC, Marvel, Valiant and Image over the past two years (Justice League Dark, Constantine, Trinity of Sin, Batman Eternal, Intersect, Wolverines, Gotham by Midnight), it's nice to see him return to the young adult Oni Press series he began back in 2010, starring a rambunctious Pit Demon named Gurgazon the Unclean.

For those unfamiliar with the Possessions books, the premise is a simple: Ms. Llewellyn-Vane is a collector of ghosts, spirits, poltergeists and entities from the great beyond, and regularly competes with other collectors. After capturing a nasty little Pit Demon by the name of Gurgazon, she one-ups the competition with how foul and destructive her latest catch is. The only problem is, Gurgazon isn't happy that she's been trapped in the house with others like her, and makes it her mission to escape and destroy not only Ms. Llewellyn-Vane, but the unnatural butler Mr. Thorne as well.

The first three books focus on Gurgazon's many mismanaged attempts at escape, while slowly becoming friends with the other trapped ghosts and possessed beings. The Ice Field Lights (a ghostly ice vapor), the Pale Lady (a headless French aristocrat), the Duke (a possessed old jukebox), and the Sturmann Poltergeist (a poltergeist) have all been residing at the house for a while now, so they've tried every escape method in the book without success and have just accepted their surroundings. Mr. Thorne has placed several powerful, magical countermeasures to ensure they stay put. However with the arrival of Gurgazon, the residents realize she very well could be the one who breaks out, and decide to follow her prickly lead.

Book Four focuses on the freshly escaped Gurgazon and her mission to call forth the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. While she's busy throwing quite the tantrum downtown like a giant kaiju monster, it's up to Mr. Thorne and every supernatural being in the vicinity to keep her from achieving her goal of mass destruction. Because the last volume was released in 2012, it's been one hell of a cliffhanger for fans to see what Gurgazon's next move was. Hopefully the fifth and final book won't take as long to come out as this one did.

Every book has a primary color theme (like Darwyn Cooke's Parker adaptations), and the color of choice this book is orange. Fawkes definitely had more characters than usual to illustrate this volume aside from the main cast, and the execution remains flawless. The art in this book is hands down the strongest of the series so far, and Gurgazon's path of destruction is beautifully executed every page. And despite the grim tones and subject matter, the story and characters remain fun and lighthearted, keeping readers of all ages entertained. The scenes with Gurgazon meeting the Four Horsemen for the first time were particularly hilarious.

The workhorse known as Fawkes continues to show that he has immense talent and range that spans across both demographics and publishers, creating something enjoyable for everyone. Possessions, Book Four continues his reign of greatness, further making him a very sought-after creator in the medium.

Possessions, Book Four: The Final Tantrum (Oni Press)
by Ray Fawkes
88 Pages, FC
$7.99

Cameron Hatheway is a reviewer and the host of Cammy's Comic Corner, an audio podcast. You can haunt him on Twitter @CamComicCorner.

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