There’s someone who has been stalking Noah’s workplace. She’s been waiting for the right time to strike. Then she does. Noah’s in a great deal of danger in 3 Keys #4. Writer/artist David Messina delivers compellingly fantastic horror action in a very familiar earthbound urban setting. He’s aided by co-colorist Alessandra Alexakis. Though the larger story behind the action feels a bit murky and lost in half-explained supernatural politics, the central action hits the page with more than enough vigor and gore to feel like a fun, memorable trip between the covers of a comic book. 

Noah’s working the comic shop when she walks by again: beautiful. Hair like Bettie Page. Plunging neckline. Stylishly minimalist choker. She’s hanging out with an unattractive Zack Snyder fanboy. Noah’s wondering if maybe she’s a cosplayer who the guy is hiring to hang out with him so that he can look cool. A little while later, she’s wielding a katana and slicing Noah’s co-worker in two perfect halves. Perfect midsagittal cut with a sword that’s nearly as big as the woman in question. Looks like it’s NOT going to be a normal day at the comic shop for Noah. 

Lovecraft wasn’t exactly writing fiction. It’s kind of a big revelation to the guy working at the comic shop with Noah. The story lurking behind the foreground of the action doesn’t seem terribly interesting, but once again, it feels a little more true to Lovecraft than most of the stuff that’s been written. The greater powers behind the scenes don’t really seem to care about the reader all that much. The reader only sees the concerns of gods through the strangely fantastic people crawling around on the planet beneath them. No evil here...only power hanging over everything that occasionally bumps into the mortal plane.

Messina’s larger story is a murky background to very impressive visuals that feel sleek and sharp. The linework is a thing of beauty even when it doesn’t have any right to be. Once again, the New York that Messina is bringing to the page is conspicuously clean. This isn’t as much of a distraction in an issue that takes place predominantly in a hipster comic shop in the East Village. There’s a powerfully kinetic sense of action in the panels at times. Some of the more explosive action CAN feel a bit static and motionless on the page, but it’s never anything other than stylish. 

One gets the impression that Messina is only barely scratching the surface of what could theoretically be a very long-running series. Messina is working with such a small canvas in an issue that largely concerns itself with what appears to be the first half of a combat conflict that starts off in a comic shop. There are so many possibilities that come in a pop fusion of Lovecraft and contemporary horror action with clean lines and sharp colors. With any luck, Messina can keep it up for a while longer. This is fun stuff.

Grade: A