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The Beauty Series #4
The Beauty, Vol. 4
Corporate espionage, government secrets, and private military contracts are uncovered as an investigative journalist looks deep into Abericorp, the most powerful pharmaceutical company in the world.
Collects issues 17 through 21.
Collects issues 17 through 21.
128 pages, Paperback
First published June 13, 2018
10 people are currently reading
246 people want to read
About the author
Jeremy Haun
295 books88 followersJeremy Haun is a freelance comic book artist. Beginning in 2002, Haun worked for Image Comics, IDW Publishing, Oni Press, Devil's Due Publishing, Top Cow, and Marvel Comics. Since 2008, he has worked for DC Comics. He is best known for his work on Berserker and Battle Hymn.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 60 reviews
July 10, 2018
"Beauty is temptation and punishment."
Not much advancement in this series about a drug that people can take to be beautiful. The hitch is that it can also kill you. Parallels to use of steroids and supplements in sports. In this volume an investigative journalist tries to find out more about how Big Pharm benefits from The Beauty. (Remember Mad Men, re the tobacco industry and how capitalism works to [not] fully protect the populace). Is a cure in the near future? Do most people really care if there is a cure, if they get to be beautiful (and more popular, and more successful, and so on)? I like the series, but this one dips just a little, though I anticipate more resolution in the coming volume.
Not much advancement in this series about a drug that people can take to be beautiful. The hitch is that it can also kill you. Parallels to use of steroids and supplements in sports. In this volume an investigative journalist tries to find out more about how Big Pharm benefits from The Beauty. (Remember Mad Men, re the tobacco industry and how capitalism works to [not] fully protect the populace). Is a cure in the near future? Do most people really care if there is a cure, if they get to be beautiful (and more popular, and more successful, and so on)? I like the series, but this one dips just a little, though I anticipate more resolution in the coming volume.
June 15, 2018
3.5 stars.
Still enjoying this series, though this arc felt kind of like a "ramp-up/ transition" to a larger part of the story to come.
Still enjoying this series, though this arc felt kind of like a "ramp-up/ transition" to a larger part of the story to come.
September 7, 2020
The Beauty vol. 3 was strong
The Beauty vol. 4 kind of lackluster
I recently got back into this series with volume 3 and thought it was great. Mysterious, creepy, unique, and thought-provoking - The Beauty seemed to have it all! But, that came crashing to a halt with volume 4.
Not necessarily bad, but so strikingly different than the previous entry that it did not go down smoothly. The biggest issue for me was that it felt like it poorly transitioned into a new storyline that I did not get into until the volume was over halfway done. It is just a bad sign when I can't say to myself,"Self . . . I am really into this story."
The art remains pretty much the same - abstract and dark - perfect for the story. There were a few times the art felt a bit different than previously, a guest artist perhaps? But, overall the same feel I have enjoyed with the rest of the series.
Summary: Okay - not mind blowing. I am sure worth reading for the continuity of the story and connecting vol 3 and vol 5. Looking forward to volume 5 and hoping it goes back to the same feel as the earlier volumes.
The Beauty vol. 4 kind of lackluster
I recently got back into this series with volume 3 and thought it was great. Mysterious, creepy, unique, and thought-provoking - The Beauty seemed to have it all! But, that came crashing to a halt with volume 4.
Not necessarily bad, but so strikingly different than the previous entry that it did not go down smoothly. The biggest issue for me was that it felt like it poorly transitioned into a new storyline that I did not get into until the volume was over halfway done. It is just a bad sign when I can't say to myself,"Self . . . I am really into this story."
The art remains pretty much the same - abstract and dark - perfect for the story. There were a few times the art felt a bit different than previously, a guest artist perhaps? But, overall the same feel I have enjoyed with the rest of the series.
Summary: Okay - not mind blowing. I am sure worth reading for the continuity of the story and connecting vol 3 and vol 5. Looking forward to volume 5 and hoping it goes back to the same feel as the earlier volumes.
October 23, 2024
I hope that in the upcoming series it doesn't start like that so zzzzzzZ sometimes
June 20, 2018
This was a fairly strong volume in the series and focused mostly on the bigger conspiracy. I enjoyed the pod-casters/journalists uncovering government corruption story line and I liked the main characters in this one. I'm not sure that we're actually getting anywhere in terms of reaching a resolution but the journey is entertaining.
December 30, 2021
Dang, what a disappointment this series has turned out to be. Just minimal inertia in this volume and quite formulaic and unsurprising. The journalist gets infected? Really? Who didn't see that coming? So a new ticking clock starts, that's something. Also in its favor, this volume does return (finally) to one of the setups from Vol. 1 - the Beauty itself. Not digging the illustration work in this volume either. Vol. 1 of this series was freaking awesome. Sadly, this series has been downhill ever since.
November 1, 2020
The Beauty Vol. 4 (issues 17-21)
Corporate espionage, government secrets, and private military contracts are uncovered as an investigative journalist looks deep into Abericorp, the most powerful pharmaceutical company in the world.
Not the most exciting arc in the series. It feels like an interlude before we gear up to the more bigger stuff. This series is awfully fond of non-linear storytelling and jumping between characters and timelines. It’s easy to get lost sometimes.
3.5 Stars
Corporate espionage, government secrets, and private military contracts are uncovered as an investigative journalist looks deep into Abericorp, the most powerful pharmaceutical company in the world.
Not the most exciting arc in the series. It feels like an interlude before we gear up to the more bigger stuff. This series is awfully fond of non-linear storytelling and jumping between characters and timelines. It’s easy to get lost sometimes.
3.5 Stars
February 1, 2022
2.5 stars. This plot has gotten so thin.
March 11, 2023
This was fine. It’s just more backstory. So we are following different characters once again.
December 19, 2021
Just how much control does pharmaceutical companies have on the beauty? Is there a cure, and if so, what is its price?
Although it felt like a duh question to ask, I still found the volume tried to demonstrate that not everyone was duped into believing the beauty wouldn't come with consequences. Not everyone wants it. And yeah, some people are searching for the cure.
Waiting to see what comes next.
Although it felt like a duh question to ask, I still found the volume tried to demonstrate that not everyone was duped into believing the beauty wouldn't come with consequences. Not everyone wants it. And yeah, some people are searching for the cure.
Waiting to see what comes next.
July 22, 2018
And the series finally comes full circle, back to its evil-pharmaceutical-corporation roots.
A pharmaceutical Beauty-researcher attempts to blow the whistle on his employer via a crime blogger. That goes about as well as one would expect.
Entirely predictable but not bad. Some good guys fall but a few Davids are left to take on Goliath in v5.
A pharmaceutical Beauty-researcher attempts to blow the whistle on his employer via a crime blogger. That goes about as well as one would expect.
Entirely predictable but not bad. Some good guys fall but a few Davids are left to take on Goliath in v5.
July 16, 2018
I'm still enjoying the premise behind this story, but the non-linear storytelling and constant jumping around between different sets of characters and timelines is really starting to try my patience. I think this particular collection of issues is taking place either parallel to, or slightly before the first volume. Once again we have no sign of detectives Vaughn and Foster, and while we did see the return of the shady pharmaceutical company, Dr. Palmer, and Calaveras, the primary focus of this story was a journalist named Cooper. He's a podcaster put onto the story of The Beauty causing spontaneous combustion by an employee at Abericorp.
December 14, 2022
I'm so happy that big pharma in the real world isn't actually this corrupt.
(hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaCRYINGhahahahahahahahahahaANGRYhahahahahahaha)
I thought I'd hate this volume because the art started out with a different artist that wasn't really my jam and there was a guy who looked way too much like Dr. Alan Grant sans the hat from Jurassic Park.
But the story picked up. There was love (friendship), some comedic relief, and a whole pile of tension. I was kind of sad because the whole time I knew that they weren't going to get away with it because they were up against something much bigger than themselves, yet I had that tiny glimmer of hope that we'd have a semi-happy ending (I was wrong in case you were wondering). I also really like the snippets where they interview people - both those with the beauty and those without - to get their opinion on it. It actually helps to see both sides and is so closely aligned with today's beauty standards that it's almost scary. And by almost scary, I mean that it is.
3.5 but Rounding to 4 Stars because I'm in a good mood
(hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaCRYINGhahahahahahahahahahaANGRYhahahahahahaha)
I thought I'd hate this volume because the art started out with a different artist that wasn't really my jam and there was a guy who looked way too much like Dr. Alan Grant sans the hat from Jurassic Park.
But the story picked up. There was love (friendship), some comedic relief, and a whole pile of tension. I was kind of sad because the whole time I knew that they weren't going to get away with it because they were up against something much bigger than themselves, yet I had that tiny glimmer of hope that we'd have a semi-happy ending (I was wrong in case you were wondering). I also really like the snippets where they interview people - both those with the beauty and those without - to get their opinion on it. It actually helps to see both sides and is so closely aligned with today's beauty standards that it's almost scary. And by almost scary, I mean that it is.
3.5 but Rounding to 4 Stars because I'm in a good mood
January 23, 2020
Volume 4 is an elegant arc that encapsulates itself moving full circle. It's an enjoyable corporate conspiracy tale with all the right ingredients; corporate greed and conspiracy, rebellious employees with hearts of gold, do-gooder citizen journalist. It deliveries a wonderful story that would look great as Hollywood blockbuster.
It was great to move back to a story that took investigating and trying to reveal what The Beauty is as its main concern. We may not have learned more but we got see how some existing players fit in and got a couple of new ones too. The one page vox pop that pepper the story was a brilliant feature that continued to keep the issues and conflicts The Beauty is causing simmering outside the main action.
A sense of horror continues to pervade this story. In this volume there is a claustrophobic sense of silence. There a big moves and action by shadowy organisations and individuals but as shadows want, this is all happening with most unaware. Life goes on for most, blissfully ignorant of the violence and greed surrounding what may be a manufactured pandemic. There are superb moments that throw this into sharp relief.
The art wasn't my favorite in this volume, a little too over saturate and soft for my tastes.
I hope the next issues has some big movement. It feels like the story is at a moment where there may not be a climax or revelation but at least the next big move happens. The past three volumes have been some serious world building for this story but a sense of inertia is beginning to set in. Hopefully the slow march to the main story is over.
It was great to move back to a story that took investigating and trying to reveal what The Beauty is as its main concern. We may not have learned more but we got see how some existing players fit in and got a couple of new ones too. The one page vox pop that pepper the story was a brilliant feature that continued to keep the issues and conflicts The Beauty is causing simmering outside the main action.
A sense of horror continues to pervade this story. In this volume there is a claustrophobic sense of silence. There a big moves and action by shadowy organisations and individuals but as shadows want, this is all happening with most unaware. Life goes on for most, blissfully ignorant of the violence and greed surrounding what may be a manufactured pandemic. There are superb moments that throw this into sharp relief.
The art wasn't my favorite in this volume, a little too over saturate and soft for my tastes.
I hope the next issues has some big movement. It feels like the story is at a moment where there may not be a climax or revelation but at least the next big move happens. The past three volumes have been some serious world building for this story but a sense of inertia is beginning to set in. Hopefully the slow march to the main story is over.
July 6, 2018
It's nice to have a straightforward story again; this volume focuses on a journalist who gets embroiled in a conspiracy having to deal with quick-burning beauties. It spends a lot of time building up the characters on both sides of the plot, and it tells its story well, but it ultimately left me a little disappointed. Things end the way they probably would end, but that doesn't make for the most enjoyable read. There's some impressive artwork here, and the antagonists get enough page time to start being memorable (it helps that one appropriately shares the name of a favorite video game character). It still doesn't feel like the series is capitalizing on its concept as well as it could, but this volume feels closer to the original than the previous two have.
June 15, 2018
I still finished this volume incredibly quickly, and I’m still interested to see where things progress, but the storyline has diverged so far from where things began, and so many characters have come and gone quite quickly, that it is more difficult to follow along with much of the action.
August 6, 2018
I really enjoyed delving deeper into the Beauty pharma mystery...
May 3, 2022
Some background on the journalists and corporate espionage and the powers that are working against them.
August 29, 2022
This is predictable, and boring. Is all the content really in volume 1?
January 12, 2026
Podcaster uncovers Pharma conspiracy is the simplest way to describe this grouping of issues. It was okay. a step down from the previous volume.
April 3, 2024
“I don’t have to think about looking good. I know I look good.”
Word of the Beauty is spreading and I have a feeling that a certain video is going to be leaked very soon.
Good plot progression and the nude figure drawings were MASTERFUL in this edition. Gorgeously illustrated, as always.
Word of the Beauty is spreading and I have a feeling that a certain video is going to be leaked very soon.
Good plot progression and the nude figure drawings were MASTERFUL in this edition. Gorgeously illustrated, as always.
March 10, 2022
This volume digs into the monetary aspect of The Beauty. You wonder how a venereal disease can make a pharmaceutical company money. A few on-air journalists are wondering the same thing.
The Beauty is a fantastic business opportunity. Acquiring it boosts people into jobs they’ve been trying to get (modeling and acting careers are obvious choices but it also comes with health benefits so what can it do for athletes?). When Cooper Mack is given the chance to get in on a potentially juicy story about The Beauty, one that runs deeper than interviews with the man on the street, he’s eager to learn more. But the deeper he goes, the more dangerous it gets.
The illustrations play on this notion of darkness, with the backgrounds mostly muted tones of browns and grays. It makes moments of lurid color pop off the page but not necessarily in a good way. It contrasts the growing horror of those who want to cure The Beauty and those who merely want to delay the inevitable two-year deadline, pun intended.
To put this into perspective, imagine if someone came up with a cure for AIDS. Not just a vaccine, but an actual cure. Pharmaceutical companies that make money selling drugs to alleviate the symptoms and extend life for HIV-positive people would find themselves sitting on shelves of products that they could no longer sell. They’d lose massive amounts of revenue almost overnight. But what’s important is that afflicted people get cured…right?
We’re talking human welfare vs. capitalism, big business and the bottom line. So what do you think would happen?
Matters take a decidedly grim turn for our intrepid reporter. Powerful people don’t want the truth to leak out, not about what The Beauty really is nor what Abericorp is and isn’t doing to stop its lethal consequences. They’re willing to do anything to keep people from talking.
There is no mention of Foster, Vaughn, Timo or Bonita. But we are “introduced” to the perverted assassin Calaveras and the cold-blooded Doreen Palmer, so we know this takes place before volume one. But other than that, it’s difficult to know exactly “when” the action in it occurs. Perhaps it’s the prequel to all the other volumes. However, not having read volumes five and six, I can’t be sure. But it adroitly adds yet another layer to what is turning out to be a complex story with all sorts of riveting ramifications.
The Beauty is a fantastic business opportunity. Acquiring it boosts people into jobs they’ve been trying to get (modeling and acting careers are obvious choices but it also comes with health benefits so what can it do for athletes?). When Cooper Mack is given the chance to get in on a potentially juicy story about The Beauty, one that runs deeper than interviews with the man on the street, he’s eager to learn more. But the deeper he goes, the more dangerous it gets.
The illustrations play on this notion of darkness, with the backgrounds mostly muted tones of browns and grays. It makes moments of lurid color pop off the page but not necessarily in a good way. It contrasts the growing horror of those who want to cure The Beauty and those who merely want to delay the inevitable two-year deadline, pun intended.
To put this into perspective, imagine if someone came up with a cure for AIDS. Not just a vaccine, but an actual cure. Pharmaceutical companies that make money selling drugs to alleviate the symptoms and extend life for HIV-positive people would find themselves sitting on shelves of products that they could no longer sell. They’d lose massive amounts of revenue almost overnight. But what’s important is that afflicted people get cured…right?
We’re talking human welfare vs. capitalism, big business and the bottom line. So what do you think would happen?
Matters take a decidedly grim turn for our intrepid reporter. Powerful people don’t want the truth to leak out, not about what The Beauty really is nor what Abericorp is and isn’t doing to stop its lethal consequences. They’re willing to do anything to keep people from talking.
There is no mention of Foster, Vaughn, Timo or Bonita. But we are “introduced” to the perverted assassin Calaveras and the cold-blooded Doreen Palmer, so we know this takes place before volume one. But other than that, it’s difficult to know exactly “when” the action in it occurs. Perhaps it’s the prequel to all the other volumes. However, not having read volumes five and six, I can’t be sure. But it adroitly adds yet another layer to what is turning out to be a complex story with all sorts of riveting ramifications.
January 31, 2020
While there is an overarching story, the volumes aren't chronological. I dare say you can read them in any order. Each of them expands this cool universe, though I would have preferred a chronological progression.
The Calaveras story is one of the blandest so far. He's a skilled gun for hire who takes pleasure in inflicting pain. He has a daughter that he can't ever see again for some reason, but his ex-wife sends him pictures of her. He's a tool with no personality.
Cooper Mack is a radio host who is contacted by Milo Miller, a pharmaceutical engineer for Abericorp, about secret testing on the Beauty - an accelerator that leads to the death of the subject.
The Calaveras story is one of the blandest so far. He's a skilled gun for hire who takes pleasure in inflicting pain. He has a daughter that he can't ever see again for some reason, but his ex-wife sends him pictures of her. He's a tool with no personality.
Cooper Mack is a radio host who is contacted by Milo Miller, a pharmaceutical engineer for Abericorp, about secret testing on the Beauty - an accelerator that leads to the death of the subject.
December 7, 2021
Finally getting back to the main story. This volume is a bit of a prequel I guess, since we meet characters in this volume before certain events happen in volume one. But the art style between every volume, even between issues, is so different that I didn't realize I was reading about characters I'd encountered before until halfway through the book. The names sounded familar, and considering I'm reading these volumes back to back I was confused why I couldn't place the characters. But when it comes to comics, I know I at least rely heavily on appearance, so when the art style is so different a character doesn't look like themselves, I don't recognize them and can't place them. Still not really the storyline I want to be reading about, and it's only expansion on details already mentioned, but at least it's much more directly related to the original story.
February 1, 2022
I both love and hate that the stories in each of these volumes are (so far) largely unrelated. I love that they each explore different facets of how the Beauty would make an impact, in both positive and negative ways - on a micro individual basis and on a macro global-cultural basis.
I hate that there is clearly a mystery that they introduced issue #1 and never really went back to it! We're finally getting back to a bit more of the mystery in this volume. I'm really curious to see where it leads and if the next volume just jumps to another story completely or continues with where this one left off.
I hate that there is clearly a mystery that they introduced issue #1 and never really went back to it! We're finally getting back to a bit more of the mystery in this volume. I'm really curious to see where it leads and if the next volume just jumps to another story completely or continues with where this one left off.
January 16, 2023
Another interesting but not-so-compelling volume here to add to this series. Again this storyline comes before volume 1. So it was interesting to see how Lundy got his data and all that stuff on top of what he already had. We can also see how his partner is getting off the rails of his sanity. They want an ultimate cure to be out there but big pharma doesn't want that at all. It's true for the real world as well. Again the ending is just sad. Who is this Calaveras guy or what's his name? Lol. Maybe in the coming volumes, we will see what happened to him for him to join sides with the big bad.
July 7, 2018
This volume finally gets back somewhat to the storyline begun in volume 1, and it's the storyline I've been waiting all this time to get more of. With intrigue and engaging characters, the story delves deeper into the true effects of The Beauty and the ends that those in power will go to in order to hide the truth.
With the return of some story threads and characters, Vol. 4 is definitely one of the higher points of the series, but I'm still waiting for things to return to the levels of excellence achieved in the first installment of this series.
With the return of some story threads and characters, Vol. 4 is definitely one of the higher points of the series, but I'm still waiting for things to return to the levels of excellence achieved in the first installment of this series.
January 25, 2020
So...is The Beauty series never going to return to the storyline from the first volume? Maybe not. I guess these "tales from the world of the beauty" remain fairly interesting, so I'm not inclined to complain.
This fourth volume features an investigative podcaster who gets in too deep with a big pharma company that appears to be developing a strain of the beauty towards murderous ends. It's straightforward with few surprises, but well done for what it is. Maybe big pharma will return in the fifth volume? I doubt it.
This fourth volume features an investigative podcaster who gets in too deep with a big pharma company that appears to be developing a strain of the beauty towards murderous ends. It's straightforward with few surprises, but well done for what it is. Maybe big pharma will return in the fifth volume? I doubt it.
February 15, 2020
+++ Amazing artwork. The drawings of people affected by Beauty are particularly good. Pin-up good. Also great colors, lettering, etc.
++/- Excellent scene composition. Action scenes are good. The horror vignettes are on the gory side.
--- I couldn't care less for the story. Worse, seems like the authors don't either. The story veers from the global pandemic, a typical dystopian trope, to a team of journalists trying to understand the virus' origins. (Last volume it was detectives solving murders.) So the story arc is too scattered and lacks long-term tension.
++/- Excellent scene composition. Action scenes are good. The horror vignettes are on the gory side.
--- I couldn't care less for the story. Worse, seems like the authors don't either. The story veers from the global pandemic, a typical dystopian trope, to a team of journalists trying to understand the virus' origins. (Last volume it was detectives solving murders.) So the story arc is too scattered and lacks long-term tension.
September 29, 2018
This volume, similar to the first, was strong in terms of storytelling, intrigue and high stakes. I gave this 5 stars because it stands well on it's own, as it's own complete arc.
Which I am beginning to suspect is the point of the series - an exploration of The Beauty from varying points of view. Disjointed and jarring, it doesn't always give new information or characters to root for. I'm definitely willing to give this series another trade, to see where this goes.
Which I am beginning to suspect is the point of the series - an exploration of The Beauty from varying points of view. Disjointed and jarring, it doesn't always give new information or characters to root for. I'm definitely willing to give this series another trade, to see where this goes.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 60 reviews