'Hacktivist' Volume 2 #4 Review: Alyssa Milano's Comic Book Delivers "Epic" Installment!

From actress, producer, designer Alyssa Milano (Charmed), comes the exciting fourth installement to her comic book from BOOM! Studios/Archaia Entertaiment. Hacktivist Volume 2 #4 is an epic read from by co-writers Colin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing, and artist Marcus To.

As we previously mentioned, in our review of the first and second issue, Nate and Ed are still connected to each other, even though they tried to separate themselves. After faking the death of his best friend, Ed Hiccox, Nate Graft and to pull his life back together. Now in charge of VIGIL, the front line of America's ongoing cyber operations, Nate thought he finally had some peace of mind. Unfortunately, there is a new breed of hackers, calling themselves sve_urs3lf, using Nate and Ed's former handle to commit their terrorist attacks.

In our MStars News interview, Lanzing discussed his newest Grace Decker, "Like Sirine in Volume 1, Grace carries a lot of the moral weight of the story on her shoulders - but unlike Sirine, she is also to some degree an antagonist for Nate and Ed. She's the most morally complicated character in the Hacktivist universe so far and we can't wait to see how fans react to her.

The script by Kelly and Lanzing moves at a brisk pace, especially with its clever twists. After the nail-biting cliff-hanger in the third issue, Nate thought he had met his untimely end. The writers wisely choose to advance the story than provide an explanation to Nate's escape. Layers of Grace's complicated personality begin to peel as a new enemy, worse than sve_urs3lf, begins to rise from the shadows. 

The artwork by Marcus To uses crooked angles and extreme close-ups to provide a claustrophobic atmosphere. We get to feel how trapped Grace is when she's cornered by Nate and Ed. Interestingly, the way Nate and Grace look at their computers, it's almost like they're playing chess against each other. 

Rating: Must Buy 

As always, Hacktivist Vol. 2 #4 delivers a timely message about safety vs. freedom, without having to be preachy, but always thought-provoking.