In this review of “Supernatural #4”, Sam and Dean’s possessed car brings them to a paranormal library.
SUPERNATURAL #4
Writer: Greg Pak
Artist: Vincenzo Federici, Gerardo Gambone
Main Cover: Clayton Crain
Variant Covers: Eder Messias, Andrea Broccardo
Page Count: 32 pages
Release Date: January 21, 2026
This review contains spoilers
For Supernatural #4‘s cold open, we meet Janice. It’s nearly closing time, and she knows she should leave. But she’s most at home in the library, and the librarian offers to let her stay forever to keep reading. Cue the monsters and her death.
Meanwhile, Sam and Dean are speeding along in their possessed car. Dean’s wondering how best to destroy it because it’s clearly demonic, but Sam points out that if it wanted them dead, it would’ve gotten them into a wreck by now. But instead, it brings them to a safe stop at the library. It’s even considerate enough to move out of a handicapped spot when it’s pointed out.
The guys head in to return the copy of Frankenstein from the previous issue, and encounter various patrons. Including Janice from back at the beginning. They ask the librarian about seeing the section that that copy of Frankenstein belongs to, but she refuses them access and sics a few monsters on them.
After a brief fight with these monsters, the guys realize they aren’t the usual ghosts and whatnot they fight so much as illusions of creatures from these books. The patrons and librarian, however? Ghosts.
The librarian, after reaffirming the guys’ last name as Winchester, digs up a newspaper article about them, which also mentions how their mother and Sam’s girlfriend had both died in mysterious fire-related incidents.
Knowing how much they’d had to suffer, she tries to convince them to join her little ghostly book club. Even uses an illusion of Jess to further convince Sam.
But Sam, though he appreciates the offer, turns it down and instead goes right for that special section. And that’s where it leaves off for this one.
Going into the artwork of Supernatural #4 first, this style’s growing on me. Also, it leads to some excellent expressions for Sam and Dean, particularly in relation to their now-possessed car. These guys have dealt with a lot of crazy stuff in their lives (even this early in the timeline), but a car coming to life on them is (well, up until now) uncharted territory. And as such, it’s a prime opportunity to break out some expressions that just wouldn’t land the same way in a photorealistic context.
On the topic of the possessed car, it’s feeling a bit more like a Herbie as opposed to a Christine situation, given that it’s only really done things to benefit the Winchesters so far (and appears to have a sense of humor). But without referencing prior media with possessed vehicles, I’m wondering if it’s possessed by the ghost of Orville from the prior issue.
The main reason for that: the possession didn’t appear to happen until after the guys ended up in that small town, they were led right to the library that the copy of Frankenstein came from in the first place (and he’d definitely know where it is and have a solid reason to lead a couple of ghost hunters there). Though it could just as likely be connected to the ghost from the casino, still wanting to help them.
Either way, I’m looking forward to seeing that plotline explained further.
Also, the way Supernatural #4 is done lends a bit more context to the previous installment. That one set up the whole thing with various books being used for magic, but this one shows where those specific books come from, complete with the creatures from the books being brought to life in some way. The way it ended tells me that issue 5 is going to expand further on the books and the power within them, and I look forward to that.
Another thing I love about Supernatural #4 is the librarian ghost Mrs. Matsumoto. She’s added more ghosts to the library, of course. But at the same time, she’s not of the outwardly, blatantly homicidal type. What she does instead is entice people to stay among the stacks forever, particularly when she figures they’d be much happier amongst the books as opposed to in the real world, where they’re dealing with such things as chemotherapy and…well, basically anything Sam’s been dealing with.
She preys upon any out-of-the-library negativity, and seems to be fairly successful at it. Having grown up preferring books to people, myself, the temptation to give into her offer is extremely understandable.
Final Thoughts
Things are getting stranger for the Winchesters, and I’d say it’s definitely worth buckling in for the ride. The story’s stronger than last time, actually improves upon the previous issue, and still has room for things to be further contextualized next time.
