It has no name. Its heart is in its horn. And there’s a fuzzy, little blue guy who needs to take its heart to save the world. What’s worse? That thing with the heart in its horn is actually kind of okay with the idea of losing its life to save the world. A little blue, furry hero has to make a big decision in Twig #4. Writer Skottie Young continues the epic journey of a muppety little guy and his slimy slug companion with the aid of artist Kyle Strahm and colorist Jean-Francois Beaulieu. Young’s story gains a bit of inspired poetry in its fourth outing. It’s powered by reliably good visuals from the art team.

The big thing with the heart in its horn isn’t going to be an easy thing to kill. The biggest thing in the way of Twig completing his quest just might be the fact that the thing in question is perfectly okay with the idea of sacrificing itself to save the world. Twig doesn’t feel right about it. And even worse: the thing with no name is likely the last of its species. If Twig is to go through with it, he’s going to be doing something awful.

Young had been moving around strange corners of a fascinating world in the first three issues of the series. It’s not until the fourth issue that he finally starts to get into some very novel situations. The murder/sacrifice to save the world conundrum is followed-up with an intriguing little intellectual challenge that Twig must work his way through involving a key, a lock, and a creature’s song. It’s beautifully poetic fantasy stuff that might have served the series better if it was paced out over the course of the past couple of issues, but it’s nice to see Young settling into a couple of really interesting conflicts for his fuzzy, little hero.

The pacing of this issue ties the initial conflict to the second conflict with a chase sequence that feels a bit rushed. Strahm and Beaulieu give the action enough space to breathe. The visuals keep the chase sequence from feeling TOO rushed in and amidst the intriguing dramatic scenes that open and close the issue. Above all, Strahm and Beaulieu manage to usher the warm and inviting cuteness of the series through another series of pages that bring the story ever closer to its big finale. 

The world that Strahm and Beaulieu are presenting here seems wondrously infinite. When Twig’s story completes, the realm feels like it could play host to so many more adventures. Twig’s a cool, little hero, but there DOES seem to be so much potential in a world with so many big, epic expanses of strange wilderness and shadowy mystery. It’s all so impressively endless. If Young and company can coax more adventure out around the edges of the panel, Twig could be the first of many little adventurers in an appealingly fun world.

Grade: A