I thought the first story arc of Ben 10, told across the opening three issues of this reboot series, did a fantastic job of reintroducing the characters and concepts to a new, or returning (now significantly older) audience. Yet it feels as if it’s dropped the ball a bit with the fourth issue.

The second story arc begins here, the first part of a 2-part story featuring Zombozo, an evil clown.

The biggest problem here is that Zombozo just comes out of nowhere, and we’ve yet to establish the rules of the world or delved that deeply into any of the characters. It feels like a very old fashioned comic book in that way; a new threat inexplicably appears for our hero(es) to deal with, and a cliffhanger before part 2 as well.

Though he’s part of Ben 10 creative collective Man of Action, Steven T. Seagle’s writing here doesn’t feel anywhere near as natural or adhering to an internal logic as Joe Casey’s from issues 1-3.

There’s also a weird aspect of Gwen taking down Ben’s monstrous forms very easily during a squabble, and though that’s perhaps a way to demonstrate Ben’s overconfidence and inexperience, it still doesn’t seem quite right.

The art is suitably dark and creepy though, and is one aspect that’s done well for the most part. However, the lack of other people anywhere, including the grocery store and the circus, gives these scenes a noticeably empty and odd feel.

The variant cover, an homage to Stephen King’s It, is just about worth the price of admission if you can track it down though!

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