Written by Guest Contributor: Jordan North The Victories is cool because it has no problem showing you familiar tropes and then turning them on their head by doing something you wouldn’t think seems particularly courageous or bold for the medium but is; it gives you reality. Real reactions, real vulnerabilities, real repercussions, at least compared to the super-heroey world-logic we get so much in other books. Spoilers ahead so be warned!
Four issues into the 'Transhuman' arc and I still get surprised, still whoop, still holler (both internally and sometimes out loud). Even though I keep telling myself again and again I have The Victories number, it manages to throw me for a loop. This issue had no lack of that effect and as a matter of fact it may have been one of the most thrilling yet, if anything due to the sheer randomness and scale of events.
In what has to be one of the greatest underdog (heh, literally) victories in recent memory The Jackal, you know pretty much the only member of the cannon without powers? Kills Taurus, the fiercest most unstoppable foe The Victories have ever faced by just... shooting him a bunch of times. It’s insanely bad-ass. But the bad guy has a parting gift up his sleeve and inexplicably releases a cloud of what is essentially super-Ebola onto the non-super population which begins infecting people at an alarming rate. Some blood tears and a few thousand victims later and anyone with powers are now public enemy #1. Its loops like this that keeps this book fresh. One moment you think you’ve got it all down, but tight/dynamic writing by Michael Oeming hardly ever lets you have a second to stand on steady feet. Breakneck paneling helps keep the story high-octane as well.
It’s the little moments that make these issues shine too. Faustus’ snarky comments as D.D. Mau tells him their fling can’t continue going on; the heart wrenching scene between D.D. and her mother, the likes of which so accurately portray the awkwardness and pain of a broken parental relationship. The Victories does right on many levels.
It’s with a heavy heart that I say I can’t condone this issue at all. Can’t do it. Won`t...okay dammit I can, but why’d you have to go and do it Oeming? Why’d you have to off The Jackal?! The look, the attitude, everything was perfect, and just as the guy goes and becomes one of my favorite characters in comics right now he gets pulled the f$#@ apart! By the super-voice guy. *Sigh* I kid, I kid. I loved this issue but that final panel got an audible “NOOOOOOOO!” outta me. Anyway great book. But hey, creators, would it kill ya to shoot me a heads up next time one of my beloved characters gets disemboweled?
Sincerely yours,
Jordan North
Score: 5/5
Artist/Writer/Creator: Michael Avon Oeming
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Price: $3.99
Release Date: 8/7/13