Poor, poor Mandy. For two issues now, our beloved Monster Hunter has had her backside handed to her by the sinister Spindly Man. With the fate of the very children who once saw her as a symbol of hope hanging in the balance, Mandy has to somehow overcome her most twisted foe yet and save the day. The thing is, that’s easier said than done right now.
In the third part of this four-issue arc, we get to see Mandy at her lowest; the Spindly Man fully in her head, making her doubt herself, and leaving her painfully short on ideas of how to tackle this eerie presence. While Mandy isn’t giving up, she’s given everything she can and is at her wits’ end. Much like the previous issue, this is a Mandy who is down and out – although here we get a little more dug up on the nefarious Spindly Man. You see, he’s the culmination of years and years of various urban legends, all intertwining together to deliver up this most evil and unstoppable of forces. Like Freddy Krueger, the more you think about and believe in the Spindly Man, the more powerful he is. And thus, Mandy is tasked with removing this belief before its too late, while simultaneously reminding herself and others just why she is such a famed Monster Hunter in her own right.
We’ve said it in our reviews of the previous two issues, but Legend of the Spindly Man is an utter joy to read. Just the storytelling itself is exemplary, being truly terrifying yet completely relatable. We’ve all heard that playground chatter about certain ghosts and ghouls, and that is what makes the Spindly Man such a compelling bad guy. The Hellbound Media team have shown that they are extremely adept at tackling all sorts of horror in the likes of their Slaughterhouse Farm, The Disease, and Shock Value work, but writers Matt Warner and Mark Adams are arguably at their absolute best when penning adventures for Mandy the Monster Hunter. The innocence, the visceral horror, and the harking back to days of yore always make these tales stand out as something truly special, and Legend of the Spindly Man may well be Hellbound’s very finest story to date. And again, the art from Lyndon White and the lettering from Nikki Foxrobot absolutely nail what is needed for this trippy, almost otherworldly affair, perfectly encapsulating Mandy’s world and the ever-increasing influence of the Spindly Man.
By the time all is said and done with this issue, Mandy has just about started to get her mojo back as she feeds off the sheer determined belief in her by the children held captive by the Spindly Man. It’s not going to be easy, but the fourth and final issue of Legend of the Spindly Man promises to be a humdinger as Mandy may – just may – now have the right plan of attack to finally take down this twisted beast once and for all – and we absolutely cannot wait to see how this all plays out!
MANDY THE MONSTER HUNTER: LEGEND OF THE SPINDLY MAN #3 / WRITER: MATT WARNER, MARK ADAMS / ARTIST: LYNDON WHITE / LETTERER: NIKKI FOXROBOT / PUBLISHER: HELLBOUND MEDIA / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
