In this review of Babylon Cove #3, as people continue to drop around Heather, the only person who may have answer is one person Heather doesn’t want to go to.
Babylon Cove #3
Writer: Rafer Roberts
Art and Main Cover: Joe Eisma
Page Count: 32 pages
Release Date: August 5, 2026
This review contains spoilers
Babylon Cove #3 opens with Heather’s boss bitching from her high-rise that Heather was supposed to be back in the office already. Verbatim: “How long does it take to bury a body?” Yikes.
To be fair, Heather doesn’t seem all that broken up about her dad’s death, but her boss has no way of knowing that.
Heather’s mom is still, understandably, in the throes of grief while Heather’s aunts are half helping, half judgementally hovering in Heather’s periphery. Heather herself is off to the nursing home in pursuit of answers and with hopes of retrieving her lost statue, accompanied by a long-suffering Charlie and on a collision course with her ex-best-friend and nemesis, Heather Murphy, also known as “Other Heather”, “Otter Header”, and “Udder Head”.
Although the nursing home was clearly Karthon’s base of operations at the end of Issue 1, it’s not as obviously compromised when Heather and Charlie arrive, this despite the zombie-like shuffling of the pedestrians they pass driving through downtown and the worm-vomiting cafe patron they somehow miss in their rearview mirror.
Heather Murphy must have had the weekend off, because she isn’t affected by Karthon’s mind control at first. Completely possessed of her own faculties, we’re treated once more to a perspective of the past untainted by Heather Hutchens’ rose-colored glasses. While Heather Hutchens describes the two of them as life-long best friends, Heather Murphy seems to have experienced outright antagonism from Heather Hutchens from their first meeting, as Heather Hutchens refused to acknowledge they shared the same name.
In another flashback, Heather Hutchens’ ex boyfriend says “Everyone loves her, Murph, and I guess I do, too? But sometimes I wonder…why? Like she’s a friggin’ awful @&#$, right?”
Taking this in combination with what we’ve learned from previous issues, we’re beginning to form an even clearer picture of Heather’s past. Teratia’s influence caused Heather to inspire some kind of blind devotion in her peers, possibly in the town at large. But some other event caused that influence to wane, leading to Heather abandoning the town. While there might have been some suspicion that Heather overdramatized things, Charlie even describes that time as “when the whole town turned on [her].”
Could Heather Murphy have been less under the influence because she wasn’t a native of the town? Or because Heather Hutchens targeted her specifically? I feel like the choice of name was very purposeful, whether as an homage or an indication of what their true relationship was like.
Unfortunately, while Murphy gives as good as she gets when the two Heathers finally reunite, it doesn’t look like she’ll be a lasting lead antagonist…because she’s going to be a worm zombie. Like instantly.
Heather, by this point in the story, is still not a likeable protagonist. She’s a user, she’s self-absorbed, and she has no self-control. In fact, almost none of these characters have redeemable qualities, and even Charlie, who started very likeable, has a very nice-guy sort of outburst. While this would be a positive element if everyone was getting picked off (a slasher is more enjoyable if the gory deaths feel deserved) the unlikable people are really not getting picked off at any appreciable rate. Maybe Murphy is a sign that this will be changing going forward? But we’ve only got two issues to go, so the ratio of build-up to payoff doesn’t quite add up to me.
I will say that Heather finally has a human reaction to her mother’s grief, and having a realization about Karthon, does the smart thing and packs up her mom and even her annoying aunts, and decides to make a run for it. By horror movie rules, she’s probably not going to make it, but it’s both a sign of a positive character arc and an appreciably smart move.
We see Karthon’s full form revealed as he raises zombies from their graves, forming his army of the undead. I love that he no longer looks like a Lovecraftian cult leader but like a straight-up alien from outer space. It was not the character design I was expecting, but it fits with the weird monster design from last issue and is an interesting twist on the arcane flavor the story has had so far. We’ve moved beyond a Mummy-style reincarnation/sacrifice storyline and into a chaotic B-movie mashup of cults, aliens, and zombies! Who knows what will happen next!
Final Thoughts
I’m still very into Babylon Cove’s story, although its characters are wearing a bit thin. I think there’s time in the last two issues for everything to come together, for especially Heather to have a full character arc, and I’m hoping that’s what we’ll see!
