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Samurai Jack #12

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    Ian Jane
    Administrator

  • Samurai Jack #12



    Samurai Jack #12
    Released by: IDW Publishing
    Released on: September 24th, 2014.
    Purchase From Amazon

    Samurai Jack creative team supreme Jim Zubkavich and Andy Suriano pick up where the cliffhanger ending of issue #11 left off. Jack's sword has been snapped and Soule The Seer lays wounded to the side, his body not strong enough to finish the ritual after summoning the spirit bridge that Jack had hoped would return him home. To make matters worse, Soule tells Jack that the spirit of his sword has escaped, but he cannot tell whether it was into the part or into the future. He also tells him, before he shuffles off this mortal coil, that Aku will be able to sense the fact that the sword's spirit is gone and that he'll likely make a move knowing that Jack will be without his most important weapon.

    And it turns out that Soule is right. After attending to his bonsai tree, Aku does notice what has happened and he commands the citizens of this land he controls to destroy Jack. A stranger in a strange land, Jack finds himself essentially unarmed and surrounded by those who would destroy him to earn Aku's favor and cash in on the offered reward.

    If the first issue of this latest story arch felt just a little thin, Zubkavich makes up for that this time around. The emphasis here is not on action (though there is a great scene where a swordless Jack takes on some armed assailants that is quite humorous but also speaks to his character) but on character development and the story is better for it. Without his sword, Jack feels incomplete and as he ponders his situation, there's an interesting flashback scene that gives us some welcome background information on him. Not only does this make Jack more interesting as a character but it is completely in keeping with what he's going through - it makes sense that he would go to this specific memory over others (and yeah, that's vague but we're trying to avoid spoilers here).

    As seems to be typical with the issues Suriano illustrates, the artwork is once again top notch. His sense of panel layout is strong and sometimes startlingly creative, using shadow quite well and doing interesting things with perspective. Ethen Beavers is credited with additional art but the credits don't say who did what. It doesn't matter, their styles jive really well and Josh Burcham continues to do fantastic things with color on this series, though this issue is visually fairly dark and for that reason the colors are a bit more restrained than in some of the earlier issues. Either way, the art is once again top shelf stuff.

    The story isn't done yet, we once again end on a cliffhanger - but this second installment has done a very fine job of building on the first, giving us every reason to have high hopes for the next one.






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