Stepping up to do what must be done.
Creative Staff:
Story: Brian Wood
Art: Garry Brown
Colors: Jordie Bellaire
What They Say:
The open ocean is lawless. It’s up to Callum Israel’s crew to police it—and to save some of their own when the ecowarriors of Ninth Wave end up in over their heads.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Though the main series for The Massive is not one I kept up on after the first volume or two, I’ve definitely been enjoying these standalone tales of the past. Brian Wood has had a good run of these kinds of stories in the past year as I really loved his Rebels work as well. So getting something similar yet different in this setting where the stakes are definitely engaging works really well. Part of what it comes down to, and it comes down to it with a lot of comics and superhero material in particular, is the craving among people to see someone stand up for what’s truly right and to do so in a bold and unequivocal way. The Massive isn’t looked at fondly by most people at this stage of their existence, but they’re putting their foot down firmly for what they believe is right.
This installment gives us a full issue story that focuses on just one event, an interesting one to be sure. The premise has Callum’s group pursuing another ship called the Spektra through the high seas, going on nearly two months now. The intent is to get back a couple of team members that boarded it previously and are being held captive as the Spektra was being sought after due to its lengthy history of illegal activities from human trafficking and smuggling among others. Things obviously didn’t go well so it’s been a long game of cat and mouse in trying to overtake them in order to get them back. Now that they’re in the Indian Ocean, things are taking a dramatic turn as the Spektra has stopped suddenly and events are unfolding in a pretty dramatic form.
A rescue operation like this has a lot of visual potential and high drama tension, which Garry Brown pulls of well in showing some great camera angles and placement from the use of helicopters, binoculars, and a wonderfully tense underwater swimming sequence. But what really drew me into this issue was the focus on the lawlessness of the international waters, which has Callum looking for assistance from the government of India at first before just going and doing what needs to be done. There are some really neat moments throughout it as it explores how all of this operates and it resonates well in the real world with what’s going on in the South China Seas with manmade islands cropping up and changing the territorial aspect of trade routes. The Massive doesn’t get into that itself but it does work with just how this aspect of international law and order works and the way that so much is gotten away with simply due to the scale of it all.
In Summary:
The Massive: Ninth Wave moves through an engaging story this time around once again with its focus on the ocean and problems there. The series has focused on a variety of stories so far that have been compelling all while showing just how capable The Massive and her team are – and still including ways things go bad and how they have to adjust. The standalone tales are compelling and could certainly be fleshed out a whole lot more to their own arcs but I’m digging the tighter focus in order to make clear the real point. Callum gets to all of it in the final pages in making clear exactly what it is he and his group intend to do since nobody else is really doing that. And while you can disagree on methods and goals, seeing someone stand up so strongly like this is something that I imagine would rally a good deal of support – and resistance.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: March 9th, 2016
MSRP: $3.99
