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The Webcomics Weekly #272: Picking a Blast From the Past (2/27/2024 Edition)

By | February 27th, 2024
Posted in Reviews | % Comments

The Webcomics Weekly is back in your life and, with a little bit of luck, will stay there for at least another 500 words or so. I reached back deep into the archives to follow-up on a review from our 3rd(!) column. Can you believe that was back in 2018? I can’t. Time sure does fly when you’re fighting gloom wolves.

Four Leaf
‘Episode 1: The Least Magical Person’ – [Epilogue] ‘Clover – Part 2’
Updates: Finished
By Lumaga
Reviewed by Elias Rosner

I’ve been reading “Four Leaf” since it debuted on Webtoon thanks to that original review by Mike. It hooks you from the first episode with likable characters, an undercurrent of darkness, and a mystery that only grows with each swipe. That’s the most I can say without giving away too much in this first paragraph. To talk about where we are now, here at the end, I’ll have to delve into the conceit. Because the first couple chapters are, like the start of “Jujustu Kaisen”, very different from the rest, I’d start there, get to episode 4 or 5, then come back and read the rest. You may just find you’ll read all 149 chapters instead.

Now that that’s out of the way, “Four Leaf,” by Uruguayan artist Lumaga, is part portal fantasy (NOT a modern iseaki), part magical girl, part dark fairy tale. It centers on Guadalupe aka Lupe and her friend Lina, who it turns out is a witch from a world where magic is real, witches are still feared, and a creature called The Wolf once terrorized the populace. Oh and Lupe was Lina’s imaginary friend. Or was it the other way around? They’re both not sure but they’re definitely both real now!

I love Lumaga’s art on “Four Leaf.” It starts clean and crisp with a distinctive style that blends modern Shojo aesthetics – the big eyes, chibi cutaways, cutaways to flowers, trees, nature – with a cartoonier, squash and stretch style perfect for action and comedy alike. As the series progresses, they sharpen their style, going through an awkward transition in the middle where the rounder faces and softer lines hurt the clarity of the action moments, before it events out again. Which is good because the end of “Four Leaf” is quite action packed.

The final confrontation between The Red Hoods and The Wolf is as climactic as promised, but not quite in the way one would think from those opening few chapters. It delivers in the best of ways beyond the battle too. For those worried that “Four Leaf” wouldn’t have satisfying answers to its plot or resolutions to its emotional arcs, set those aside. Lumaga has you covered. While I wasn’t thrilled with how season 3 complicates the narrative by introducing sci-fi adjacent elements from outside the two worlds, I was happy to see us not only return to Lupe’s home but explore the ramifications of Lupe & Lina’s entanglement.

How many recent portal fantasies have one of those? An adventure with a beginning, middle, and an end that resolves without becoming too bloated in the process. In the webcomic sphere perhaps even fewer than in the light novel sphere (or even traditional American fantasy prose sphere.) You, reading this now, are in the best position to experience “Four Leaf.” The year-long break between seasons 3 and 4 and the other year-long break right before the final few chapters of season 4 are bridged with a single tap. You can laugh, cry, bite your fingernails, and cheer uninterrupted.

Trust me. You’ll do all four and then come back for more.


//TAGS | Webcomics

Elias Rosner

Elias is a lover of stories who, when he isn't writing reviews for Mulitversity, is hiding in the stacks of his library. Co-host of Make Mine Multiversity, a Marvel podcast, after winning the no-prize from the former hosts, co-editor of The Webcomics Weekly, and writer of the Worthy column, he can be found on Twitter (for mostly comics stuff) here and has finally updated his profile photo again.

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