Written by Matthew Sturges, Bill Willingham and Chris Roberson Art by Neal Adams, Ralph Reese, Sergio Aragonesand Eric Powell Cover by Esao Andrews Variant cover by Neal Adams
This issue takes a break from the title's "The Space Between" story arc to give us an anthology featuring the number "13" in all its stories. Even the pages are all marked "13" throughout the book.
The issues consists of four stories (well actually three; see explanation further down this review) written by Matthew Sturges, Bill Willingham, Chris Roberson and Matthew Sturges (again) with art by Ralph Reese, Eric Powell, Neal Adams (with assists by Josh Adams) and Sergio Aragones respectively. That's a lot of talent packed into what is a very fun book.
The first story, by Sturges and Reese, features a man trying to explain to his fiancee what happens everyday during "The Thirteenth Hour" of everyday life and how he decides to overcome the knowledge of its existance. Despite some gruesome details, this is actually a very fun and light-hearted read. It may sound like I'm contradicting myself, but you really need to read this tale to understand what I mean.
The second story, by Willingham and Powell, is titled "The Lace Anniversary" and tells the tale of a husband looking to buy an anniversary gift for his wife. What number is "lace" an anniversary gift for? Do I really need to answer that? (*wink*) Anyhow, an entertaining story that utilizes the number "13" in many creative ways.
The third story, by Roberson and Adams, is about a man and woman who run into each other during different eras of history due to a connection they are not aware of until the very end. I won't spoil it here, but it was a pleasant read. "13th Time's the Charm" is the title to this fun tale.
The last story is not a story at all. It's a one-page "tale" that features "activities" to do while reading the captions. Written by Sturges and drawn by Aragones, it features a prominent character of House of Mystery in a Halloween-type portrayal.
In regards to the art, it is fantastic throughout. All artists are top-talent in the industry and they continue to impress here. You will not be short-changed, I promise you.
All in all, this issue may not be a jumping-on point for the series as a whole, but it makes for a great one-shot if you are looking for something fun and entertaining in a horror-type setting. All anthology books should be done like this one.
