Samurai Jack

Super Secret Crisis War #1

Super Secret Crisis War #1IDW’s big Cartoon Network crossover begins here as villains Aku, Mojo Jojo, Vilgax, and Mandark band together with an evil plan to send robot warriors to capture their enemies Samurai Jack, Ben Tennyson, Dexter, and Bubbles, Blossom, and Buttecup.

The first issue allows the various villains and heroes to each have their moments to shine (although I would have liked more Mojo) while also setting up a scenario where the various heroes’ realms are all now unprotected. The villains also accidentally send robots to several other worlds leading to the capture of Ed, Edd, and Eddy (where the story begins to falter a bit) and setting up the various other one-shots over the next six months beginning with Johnny Bravo.

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Samurai Jack #9

Samurai Jack #9“Villainous Vortex” pits Samurai Jack against a gravity-manipulating machine which, not surprisingly, turns out to be controlled by the evil that is Aku. Samurai Jack #9 delivers a fun story featuring Jack in action against one of Aku’s mechanical soldiers, but for the second straight issue the comic gives us no character interaction between Jack and anyone else. It’s not a bad thing, but I think it would be very easy to see the comic fall into that template that ignores one of the strengths of the television show which spawned it.

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Samurai Jack #8

Samurai Jack #8In an issue without dialogue the focus of Samurai Jack #8 becomes the art as Samurai Jack‘s attempt to hide from the noise of the future city leads him to a sleeping pod. Thanks to the maneuvering of his old enemy Aku, Jack awakes in a mirrored cave where his reflection creates distorted doubles of the samurai out for blood.

I like the idea of doing a Samurai Jack storyline without any dialogue, something “Jack Renumbers the Past” put to tremendious use for most of the episode, but a throwaway one-issue adventure doesn’t have the same impact of Jack returning home for the first time.

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Samurai Jack #7

Samurai Jack #7With Samurai Jack and the Scotsman both turned into females by the Leprechauns the pair’s two-issue gender-bending adventures continue as Samurai Jacqueline and the Scotswoman seek to complete their bargain with the devious imps and confront the giant Cuhullin the Cruel.

Only after confronting the massive creature in battle do Jack and the Scotsman uncover just how much they’ve been played by the evil imps and decide to do what they can to set things right. With the spell broken due to the giant’s wailing breaking the music of the curse (which is only slightly less awkward than it sounds), the restored Jack and Scotsman come up with a plan to help Cuhullin and teach the Leprechauns a much-deserved lesson.

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