I really had high hopes for this issue, but I was ultimately disappointed. This didn’t start or end in the way that I thought would be natural for the series. We were shown a side of Callum Israel that we hadn’t ever been shown before in the last issue, and now it appears that he’s just as confused as I am. I thought we were going to see a new direction for the series, but instead, it feels like we’re right back at square one. Now instead of there being a new direction, it appears that there may be no direction. My only hope is that somehow after all of this drama there will be some drastic steps taken to restore the same excitement and impulsiveness from last month. Callum shot Bors. Guess what, folks, he’s not dead. Callum finds a pool of blood and a firefight between the two men ensues. On top of that, these two men seem to be having a heart to heart while the rounds are being put down range. Not really the kind of conversation that I look forward to having anytime soon. Back on the Kapital, Mag makes a surprising discovery. It seems as though the dramatic irony has finally caught up with him.

The script this month is well written, don’t get me wrong, but I just really thought that Callum was going to start on a war path that would take the Kapital to new and interesting places, and I don’t just mean new locals. The mood just didn’t feel right. The only thing that really stood out this month is that it looks like we’re going to see some pretty interesting stuff come up between Mag and Callum in the near future. I have a feeling that Callum is not going to like the situation onboard the Kapital when he returns.

The art didn’t stand out like it did last month. I was completely blown away by every single aspect of issue seventeen. So much so that this didn’t feel like a continuation of that at all. I mentioned that the mood of the script didn’t feel right, but I feel the same way about the art. Garry Brown in a very talented artist. I really like his work on this book, but I just don’t think that we got his best this time around.

I really hope that this series picks up again soon, because I just didn’t connect to the characters like I thought I was going to. I really thought that there would be some groundbreaking events unfold because of the aftermath of that “shot heard round the world”. I didn’t see the Callum Israel that I expected or wanted to see. I do, however, have some new expectations for the crew. Who knows what will happen on that front?

Score: 3/5

Writer: Brian Wood Artist: Garry Brown Publisher: Dark Horse Comics Price: $2.99 Release Date: 12/18/13