Review: Samurai Jack #17

I’ll start with just my overall thought on the latest from Samurai Jack and work my way back. To start, I was disappointed with issue #17. So now let’s work our way back. With the new storyline, I found it easy to fall back into this story and continue to fall in love with this series. I thought after the huge showdown with Aku, the comic may not have a story to back it up but it totally did. I think what helped most was the introduction of some new characters. My favorite being The Thief. Now just recently getting into this series, I didn’t know who The Thief was, but again, it was easy to be attracted to this new guy who had all the gadgets. Our other introduction involved, what seemed like a bad guy, the Master of Time. Jack needs to get in touch with this man to get back to his original time. The Thief is going to help him. I have always enjoyed Jack working with a partner. Because the comic has so many little jokes, it helps to have a duo to bounce the jokes in between characters. So without even knowing The Thief, Jim Zub gives him such a great dynamic with Jack. You would never put these two together. Not just their personality, but The Thief looks like he walked out of a Dick Tracy film. Having him partner with a samurai wouldn’t be my first thought. But it works. Jack’s hard working, focused, and physical self, balances The Thief’s laid back, intelligent, and cynical attitude.

SamuraiJack17-cvrWe jump into action right away. So the issue sweeps you off your feet with the first page. The art of Samurai Jack has never disappointed me. Seriously. I love it. I especially love the mission scenes. I do like the hand to hand combat, but I prefer just the mission itself. The journey as oppose to battle. So to have a full issue that revolved around a mission gave me lots of excitement. I think anyone can agree that Sergio Quijada delivers with his sharp movements and crazy contraptions at every corner. Readers will especially enjoy the silhouette feature that is done with this issue. I don’t remember seeing this in the past, so it may not be the first time, but I dug it. It gave Jack an even cooler personality. Oh and the old fashion onomatopoeias just adds to the ridiculous humor of it all.

But unfortunately, and small spoilers ahead, when the duo finally get to the Master of Time, the story ends in an anticlimactic way. All of that work seemed to build to nothing. And that is exactly how I felt about the reading too. I felt shit out of luck when finishing it. Now I am confused where this storyline is even going. And it also seems like a waste to have two issues dedicated to Master of Time with him not playing a crucial role at all. Maybe I am jumping to conclusions too fast and this Time guy will come back and play a role, but some foreshadowing was needed if that is the case. So yeah I was disappointed in this month’s issue. I am certainly not giving up on Samurai Jack, as I think the comic still has some good story to give us. I am concerned that the comic may go on this rollercoaster ride of good and bad issues. For now, we will just have to wait.

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Samurai Jack #17
Writer: Jim Zub
Artist: Sergio Quijada
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Price: $3.99
Release Date: 3/25/15
Format: Ongoing; Print/Digital

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