More dark things lurk in the night.
Creative Staff:
Story: Sebastian Girner
Art: John Bivens
Colors: Iris Monahan
Letterer: Jeff Powell
What They Say:
Barely surviving the onslaught of the dread ninja, the battered party of Ronin take refuge in an old mountain temple. As Ketsuko learns more about Fubei’s past, she ponders her own bloody choices. But the temple is not as abandoned as it seemed, and Ketsuko is not the only one who struck a deal with a devil…
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
As the journey continues, we get an installment that fleshes out our cast a bit more and a good action sequence that works beautifully. But it fits into that slotted predictable mode for a third issue of a series like this so there are no surprises. Sebastian Girner delivers a solid story for this with good character exploration and some background coming to the surface that fits and flows well. John Bivens puts it all to page with striking detail and excellent flow both in the panel layout and the way the action is handled as well as the quieter dialogue scenes. Which, in turn, looks even better thanks to the stark color design that Iris Monahan employs here to make it all distinctive.
With the group having survived the last encounter as best as they have, they’re making their way up the mountain and have found a small temple embedded within it that’s quite old and worn down already in this time and place. It’s not the best place to set up camp for the night but it’s ideal for the situation. What’s surprising is that there is a monk inside praying, almost like song, and he’s glad to have the company and welcomes them in. It’s through this that we get some downtime to cover things such as Ketsuko’s nightmare about her sword and the cost of it all, which is only disturbed by hearing noises elsewhere in another chamber. It’s not a surprise that one of those in the group would make a move on Fubei and have a good time with her but she seems to be quite in control of the situation as well, downplaying Ketsuko’s concerns.
Ketsuko definitely has some interesting moments in this issue as it starts with more flashback between her and her brother and how she kept pushing the war and fight for honor past where he wanted, and to a point that made her call him out as potentially being traitorous. It explains more of what’s motivating her, though between that and Fubei’s past we don’t get a chance to really get into it too deeply. That’s mostly because we get the reveal that the monk has sold his soul to something dark and evil and it’s hungry and ready to consume. It feels like it ties into Fubei’s past a little too easily based on my initial view of it but there are other dark elements moving within this as well. It’s a great action sequence with some solid creepy monster material, however, so it delivers the goods.
In Summary:
The additional background exploration that we get for both Fubei and Ketsuko is welcome here as it explains more of their own motivations and actions that they take. It’s welcome material but this is the kind of issue where it’s not moving the story forward much but filling in the important blanks. The fight with the monk is pretty nicely done and creative but it could have been excised and more time given to the character side would have worked just as well if not better. All in all, it’s a good issue and you find yourself liking Fubei even more after it, and understanding more of where Ketsuko is after her past actions.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 12+
Released By: Vault Comics
Release Date: December 9th, 2020
MSRP: $3.99
