This was originally posted at Word of the Nerd on December 20th.
You know you’re in good hands when the opening of every comic includes the insanely awesome and informative opening sequence from the cartoon! Yes, the fan favorite/cult classic/just plain classic cartoon, Samurai Jack, has returned to us in comic book form.
Written by Jim Zub (Skullkickers) and drawn by Andy Suriano, the new Samurai Jack comic stays true to the episodic nature of the cartoon while giving Jack a specific goal in his quest to return to his home and proper time period so he can vanquish the demonic Aku. The “Threads of Time” arc sees Jack gathering threads from the broken Rope of Eons, which Aku frayed when he mastered time travel. Once Jack has recovered the threads, he’ll be able to rewind the rope and rewind time. In the first issue, Jack faced a group of gladiators fighting in an underground arena overseen by a malicious spider. While in the second, he went up against twin cats named Dis and Dat who used their thread to synchronize their attacks. Besting all of them, Jack prevails, but he’s not without his setbacks as each new foe challenges and pushes him further. No matter what, Jack is still a warrior possessed with determination to complete his quest.
Issue three finds Jack in the village of Grantus, a peaceful place under the protection of the affable Gloer the Great who grants Jack shelter, food and a little sparring practice. All in good fun though. The only downside seems to be that the people of Grantus ignore Jack, but Gloer assures him that they’ve been encouraged to ignore strangers until they’ve been around long enough to not be strangers. Everything changes, however, when Aku’s robotic forces attack Grantus and Jack learns the shocking truth about Gloer.
The issues thus far have been worthy successors to Genndy Tartakovsky’s cartoon. Jim Zub has crafted an arc that stays true to the character and his motivations while also giving Jack ample reason to show off his impressive fighting techniques. The shift in medium obviously makes the storytelling process a bit different, requiring more narration and dialogue in cases where the cartoon would have relied on atmosphere and silence. Not that this can’t be accomplished in a comic, but Zub has to work a bit harder to retain the spirit of Jack’s character and the world he inhabits. Thankfully, Zub keeps Jack’s dialogue to a minimum when he can, relying on the dialogue of other characters to fill in the blanks or letting the art of Andy Suriano speak for the comic. Suriano, by the way, knocks it out of the park with his work, which makes sense since he worked on the Samurai Jack cartoon as a character designer. But in the pages of the comic he gets to bring the epicness of Jack’s quest to life. You never doubt this is Samurai Jack and if I can’t have the cartoon, then at least I can have the comic.
Final Thoughts: If you love Samurai Jack, then you should be reading this comic. Try and read the opening segment without hearing the voice of the late Mako as Aku. I dare you!
The Maniacal Geek 