The only way out is through it.
Creative Staff:
Story: Ryan Ferrier
Art: Alejandro Aragorn
Colors: Chris O’Halloran
Letterer: Ryan Ferrier
What They Say:
Rider and his gang of renegades face down the leader of a shadowy cabal in an explosive assault on his temple. The dawn of a new apocalypse seems only minutes away as our heroes put their lives on the line in combat with the minions and machinations of the mysterious FATHER.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
As the series barrels forward we get a lot more energy and movement out of it, which is a mix bag. There’s a need, at least for me, to get more meat on the project so that it feels more fully realized with the characters that are still a bit too thin, which is made worse by a world design that feels just as thin. Ryan Ferrier has infused it all with a good bit of energy and just the right amount of standard post-apocalyptic coolness to work the run as a whole so there’s plenty to like here. Especially with Alejandro Aragorn’s artwork as there’s a strong kinetic feeling about it as it moves about or even just in thequiteer scenes with placement and overall design.
The plan here is pretty straightforawrd from the point of view of Carvell and the others as they’re going to strike at Father in the city. Demolishing the power plant should throw a lot of the plans into chaos, but it’s unclear how much it’ll impact the orb that’s about to impact them. The plan is one that Rider is still not keen on considering how many people will be hurt and die by it but he also has to get into the city for his own reasons and he’s still very protective of Pilot. There’s a lot of fun in watching the back and forth among the group at first and then their forray into the city, evading who they need to and just racing through, something that you can imagine playing out very well cinematically.
But their plan is going to go smoothly for only so long as Father knows about it and even understands the good idea behind it. Which also means he’s prepared for it, which has him sending out his Death Cubes to deal with the resistance to his plans. It’s a fun bit that allows Rider to go all out in tackling them but it’s all part of the delaying action until the Orb arrives. I really like seeing how Father handles a lot of this because it’s an easy confidence that’s fairly restrained while also giving us a chance for Rider to really go all out and for Carvell to put it all on the line with his beliefs with how he follows through with it. It’s a very busy and fluid installment overall that has a lot of energy to it but mostly I just enjoyed a book called Death Orb employing Death Cubes.
In Summary:
Death Orb still feels like it’s a low investment kind of series because there’s not a lot of rich character material to it and the story works a kind of superficial approach. But it’s a really fun book with the way it unfolds and the artwork that gives it a real energy. Ferrier keeps it all moving even as the big bad thing is almost here and Aragorn’s artwork is just exciting to watch play out with the layouts and all the details. I still dig the character designs the most and have a strange kind of admiration hitting in regards to Rider at this point that I can’t explain.
Grade: B-
Age Rating: 15+
Released By: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: January 16th, 2019
MSRP: $3.99