Imperium #9
Valiant Entertainment 2015
Written by Joshua Dysart
Illustrated by Cafu
Coloured by Brian Reber
Lettered by Dave Sharpe
During the battle to retrieve Angela from Rising Spirit, LV-99 massacred an entire H.A.R.D. Corps unit…except an agent named Sasha, who Mech Major secretly rescued and brought back to the Foundation Zone. But unbeknownst to Mech Major…Sasha is an undercover alien of the Vine!
Now that their encounter with Divinity is over it’s time to get back to business. Let me start this off by saying we all know what kind of man Toyo Harada is. We know what he’s capable of and the lengths he’ll go to in order to achieve his goals. So you’d think by now I wouldn’t be as shocked by what Joshua brings us each month. Just when you think you can’t think any lower or despise the man any more we’re constantly proven wrong. So why then do we keep coming back? Two reasons really A. because we can’t help but seeing what heinous act he’ll do next and B. we want to him get his ass handed to him. Joshua has created the love/hate, the man we love to hate, and admire triangle perfectly.
Oh and yes admit it you admire him because we all have that part of ourselves that wishes we could exactly what we want, enforce our beliefs to whatever degree is necessary in order to make the world better and completely, seemingly, get away with it.
I have to also say that this issue opens up like a Republican’s wet dream. Technology that allows you show hatred, bigotry and mistrust in the name of protecting your family. It’s genius really I mean sure Harada has Psiot’s but then nowadays which major powerful government doesn’t have them working for them as well? Rising Spirit Industries is preying upon the most basic fears and insecurities and well it’s both incredibly now and completely society killing in it’s depiction. You will never NOT think when reading Joshua’s work.
Toyo took a portion of Somalia as his own and now we see him reaching out the rest of the African Nations and the world’s press. DAYUM the man’s unending arrogance and commitment to his own actions boggles my mind. With those loyal to him he’s able to effectively launch a three pronged attack simultaneously ensuring that his vision is seen, his willingness to stand by his words and that inactivity will not be tolerated. First off aside from the fact he’s crazy as a loon it’s really genius how he’s able to make these types of plans and execute them with such precision. Also each battle is scripted and illustrated so freakin well.
Cafu and Brian work so well together and the amount of detail in their work is astonishing. From the helicopters to the boats to the characters themselves they leave nothing to chance. Easily recognizable and identifiable you never need a scorecard to know who’s who. Then there’s Harada himself and aside from the kids he’s the scariest thing on the planet to me. The way they can showcase his inner strength mixed all kind of cocoa puffs crazy almost makes me run for the hills.
I don’t know how long till the rest of the rest of the planets heroes rise up against him or when Peter finally comes out of hiding to shut him down again but for the meantime as nuts as makes me I can’t stop coming back to this series.
Mesmerizing, Intelligent and thought provoking make this the high end comic series to read!