Joe the Barbarian #4 is a tricky beast. Up until now, each issue of Grant Morrison and Sean Murphy's unique Vertigo mini-series has progressed drastically between installments, each new issue bringing to light an entirely new dynamic for the book. With issue #4, that progression sort of stops short.
The book is solid, don't get me wrong; Morrison provides more than a fair share of delightful new characters as Joe and his companions continue their journey, but a lot of the issue feels as though it's treading water. Morrison presents a vague explanation to Joe's precarious situation trapped between the worlds of fantasy and reality, but quickly argues against his own ideas, leaving the reader no closer to an explanation than they began with. A lot of Morrison's work benefits from re-reading issues after the story is completed, so perhaps upon the release of issue #8 I'll come back to this installment and realize that I was given numerous clues as to where the title was headed.
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The new characters introduced are just as intriguing as the pirate/dwarf society from last issue (read my review of Joe the Barbarian #3), and Morrison excels at establishing a rich culture for a whole society that we've only known for a few pages. His ability to exact his dialog to get across key characteristics of brand new characters never ceases to amaze me.
Though this issue seems to be a slight hiccup in the midst of Joe the Barbarian, issue #4 showcases the time and effort that both Morrison and Murphy have put into this project, and hopefully next month we'll see another radical shift in direction for Joe.
