Samurai Jack has come back with a bang. I didn’t quite agree with the whole silence issues, but now that we are on a new story arc, I see why everyone loves this comic. Jack met up with Soule the Seer, and he claimed that he could help Jack out of his bind, meaning get him back to present day. Seer could feel the world he was living in was not right, so now it all came down to some ritual with Jack’s sword. The two traveled long and hard only to find that Seer didn’t have the energy to perform the whole ritual. Now Jack is still left in the future with no sword to protect him. It seems he is more lost than ever.
We haven’t seen Aku in some time. Although his presence is always there, since I started reading this comic, I haven’t gotten to know much about him. At first, he is a pretty funny dude. Actually, this whole comic has a funny undertone to it. Seer had to be the funniest character we have met. He takes being the wise old man very seriously! Anyway, Aku is taking care of his new bonsai tree which he constantly talks to and tells the tree how devilishly cute it is. So I already like this guy as a villain. But more importantly, he has powers of knowing about Jack's sword. It is pretty much the only thing he fears and now with the sword gone, I would say that Aku is out for blood. Aku blasts a proposal to the inhabitants of his world and tell them that Samurai Jack must be stop. Those who stop him will be rewarded greatly. So now Jack must fend off many opponents but even if he can stop them all what hope does he have.
This narrative is getting intense, so I am loving every minute of this story arc. One of my favorite things about this comic is the art though. Now that we have some conversation going on, I can finally step back and appreciate the beautiful art that happens in this comic. First off, I love the colors being used. So many rich purples and blues really make this comic stand out. But for me, the shadowing is the big key. They could use any color in there, but when you create deep shadows with all that black, it gives the comic urgency and really just makes every move pop more than the last. That brings me to the second thing I love about this art, the action. This issue doesn't have a lot of action. Instead Jack’s moments were perfectly placed in with the plot. Every move was graceful just as out story was.
I hope you can make some time for this story arc, because it has a lot of things I love about comics all rolled up into it. I really don’t know what is going to happen either. Now that Jack doesn’t have a sword, he feels more than ever. He will have to channel some of his anger into power because the sword doesn’t make a samurai.
Score: 4/5
Writer: Jim Zub Artist: Andy Suriano Publisher: IDW Publishing Price: $3.99 Release Date: 8/24/14 Format: Ongoing; Print/Digital