I wish that I could tell you that Danger Club finishes strong. I wanted it to finish strong especially after the disappointing seventh issue. Danger Club #7 was not a good issue. I’ve read and reviewed every issue now with the exception of the seventh and really if this wasn’t the end I might have skipped this one as well. I don’t know what happened to this series, but everything that made it different and special evaporated with that last issue. Danger Club #8 has the gimmick of having two endings. They’re both essentially the same so I will tell it to you like this: The cover pictured on this review is the normal happy ending and the other cover is the super happy ending. You may think, “It’s not that happy”, but you’re wrong. It’s really fucking happy compared to the rest of the series. You’ll think it’s not happy due to that last scene with Kid Vigilante, but I’ll explain later why that stunk too.
This series has been gritty and in your face since the beginning. It’s zigged every time you thought it was going to zag, but especially here… it just walks a straight line to the ending and says, “I’m done.”
I get that there was a hell of a delay between the first half and the second half of this series, but the story is what it is. I’m sure some will excuse it saying, “Well if it had come out with the first half of the series it would have been better because now you’ve had too much time to think about it.”
Wrong.
I actually didn’t think about it. It had every opportunity to come back and win me over again and it did that with the sixth issue. That issue was great and continued right where the fifth issue had left off. But these last two issues the art carried the entire issue and it didn’t cut it. Especially with all the full page panels and splash pages which end up feeling like filler. Don’t get me wrong the art is great, but the art stopped telling a story here and the writing never stepped in to help.
The payoff at the end is so minor compared to the build up from the first six issues that it’s hard not to be disappointed. And Kid Vigilante’s dad… were we supposed to hate him? It wasn’t a good type of hate either, I just straight up hated the dude this entire time and his final scene was the icing on the cake. It wasn’t that he was out of character, it was the fact that the story didn’t need it. Kid Vigilante not getting the recognition from his father that he so desperately wanted was not why I read this entire series and if it was supposed to be then… well then I question why I ever liked this series. It was trying to be edgy there. It was trying to frustrate the reader and it wasn’t needed because the rest of the ending was already frustrating and we barely knew this guy. There was no payoff to him saying anything.
I suppose if you read the super happy ending first you’ll feel differently, but really I’m sure most people will read both and neither one is worth it.
The art tries to carry this series to the finish line, but really the story feels abandoned which is strange since it just came back. Why bring it back then? Everything is out of sync. The pacing is choppy and the art doesn’t tell the story, but rather it’s just there to look good. This ending was not what this series deserved and it left a bad taste in my mouth, so bad that I won’t even recommend you reading this in trade. If you are going to read it, just stop at the sixth issue and just imagine a happy ending that you want and that will be better than what happened here. It’s getting two points, but only because the art has been consistent throughout the series even if it doesn’t manage to get the story across in this issue.
Score: 2/5
Danger Club #8 Writer: Landry Q. Walker Artist: Eric Jones Publisher: Image Comics Price: $2.99 Release Date: 4/8/15 Format: Mini-Series; Print/Digital