3 out of 5

The first Electric Black series was all over the place with ideas, but succeeded more often than not as a result. The second series tried to zero in on some character focus I don’t think the story’s / writers’ style/s was/were fully ready to support. One-shot Dark Caravan, if still dinged by some rollercoaster storytelling – we’re moving too fast, or too slow; loop de looping excitingly, then just coasting – is a much more satisfying way for Joseph Schmalke and Rich Woodall to work on enhancing things, by uncovering a bit of background on the lore. 

We take a fladhback-within-a-flashback dive into the pre-Julius owner of the dark ledger, and in so doing learn just a skosh more about the “dark” and “light” forces at perpetual war with each other. 

I like how Schmalke and Woodall keep trying to tweak our expectations regarding how ‘good’ and ‘bad’ might align with those forces, although that’s also where things get a bit shaky, and suggest some more paced explorations like this might be good for continuing to shore up the Electric Black comic world’s foundations.