Gideon Falls Volume 4: The Pentoculus

Gideon Falls, Volume 4: The Pentoculus by Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino (Illustrator) is the first good look at Pentoculus Machine that's in the center of the Black Barn. It's also the first explanation of why the characters we've been following have been drawn to the barn. The rapid spread of COVID in 2020 delayed the release of volume 4 to the point that my pre-order was canceled, not by the book store, but by their distributor. Since neither of us realized what had happened until months later when I saw volume 5 had been released, I've fallen way behind in my reading of this series. For Volume 3: Stations of the Cross I looked at how the protagonists were set up in a scarecrow (protector) / minotaur (monster) dichotomy. For this volume their status is downgraded as their roles in a greater destiny is established. This move also drops the series solidly into horror, although it's been skirting that genre throughout the previous volumes. http://pussreboots.com/blog/2021/comm... Privileged Rural Labyrinth 003399

Gosh, this story is wild and the art is stunning! In this volume, Norton/Danny and Clara are trapped in one Gideon Falls, pursued by the evil “smiling man” that is like some time-traveling body-swapping parasite? This evil dude wants Danny. In another Gideon Falls, (Father) Fred and (doctor) Angie debate with the Bishop about "The Pentoculus Machine" - which is some sort of time travel device. And in another plotline, we see that a vigilante group called The Ploughman is going after the smiling evil man, to finally end it all. There is a lot happening here. Hoping the threads will all be tied together in the next few volumes.