No Spell Lasts Forever #4 is a comic written by Sarah Cooke with art by Eze Di Savino. Rosette crosses paths with most of her enemies as the time on her deal is about to run out. This is a supernatural comic with heavy drama, mob vibes, corrupt law enforcement, and a sizable cast. The leading lady here is Rosette Diamant, real name Erma Smith. She is a powerful magic-user who works as a hitwoman for a mob boss named Cutler Gray. She has a sister named Elspeth who is currently working with Gray’s ex-wife and rival mob boss Victoria as they both want Rosette out of the picture. Sebastian Velez is the Chief of Police and he is bothered by the fact that a good chunk of his men have allegiances to either of the two crime families. Chief Velez has a young daughter and he’s trying to keep from being corrupted. This story begins with Rosette attempting to magically question another cop when her magic is interrupted by her nearby sister Elspeth. She pursues the spell trail to an apartment where she confronts her sister and Victoria. What happens next is a heated argument that revisits past problems. The violence here can be bloody but there isn’t anything gory and the gruesomeness is light. The pacing is slow as there can be a lot of talking and the tone is a bit noir-like with some melodrama. There are many intense moments that are mostly due to drama though a few are violent. The dialogue is mainly conversational with a lot of back-and-forth and occasional narration from Rosette. There are at least four word-heavy and more than a few others get a bit close. This is an intriguing issue where the past is revisited and Rosette makes crucial decisions that have immediate and future consequences.

            The art here is a drawn in a detailed, pulp-like modern style with thick outlines. The color palette is realistic with a lot of dark/faded tones and purples. For natural scenery we do have a park with an open field that boasts a substantial amount of trees. This story has a good balance of indoor and outdoor scenes as Rosette goes from offices and apartments to the city streets near the police station. The backgrounds are somewhat split between showing the actual surroundings with gradient colors being rare. The expression level here is a bit below average as subtle looks can be hard to decipher. Some of the emotions seen here include fear, sadness, shock, irritation, annoyance, and confusion. The faces have a decent to average amount of detail with a majority of the looks coming across clearly. The magical effects are purple and pink and have a bubbly/smeared appearance. The violence is delivered with magic and guns with occasional physicality. There is some blood and light gruesomeness and gore. The action scenes come in short bursts with an unconfusing flow.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes, if this is up your alley.

“Would I like this?”

If you like supernatural comics that star a woman with magic abilities and has noir vibes, heavy drama, organized crime, law enforcement corruption, a sizable cast, and a bit of romance then this is for you.

“What would this comic’s film rating be?”

R. Violence, blood, light gruesomeness.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“Heh, I assume you came here to give up?”

 

Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/nospelllastsforever/no-spell-lasts-forever-1-4/description

***IN-DEPTH COMIC STATS BELOW***

Probably Contains Spoilers

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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 24

Violent Pages: 6, for 25% of the comic

Sexy Pages: 0, for 0% of the comic

 

**The levels below aren’t necessarily maintained throughout the whole comic, but they were definitely reached**

 

Violence Level – 3

“Wasn’t no tussling at all.”

“Sometimes you gotta hit somebody.”

“I’m getting charged with how many counts of assault?”

“This was a tournament arc.”

“All my life I had to fight.”

 

Gore Level – 3

“The only thing leaking out your face is tears.”

“Looks like somebody spilled some ketchup.”

“Might need to soak that up with a bath towel.”

“That isn’t supposed to be outside the body.”

“This is a slaughterhouse.”

 

Death Level – 2

“And everybody lived happily ever after.”

“We might have gone to a couple funerals.”

“It just LOOKS like a serial killer was here.”

“Yeah this was a tragedy.”

“Think Gettysburg.”

 

Porn Level – 1

“Everybody kept their clothes on.”

“I guess it was too hot for a bra.”

“Sometimes you got to let everything air out.”

“This is like late night Cinemax in the early 2000’s.”

“Oh. This is porn.”