Dark Horse Comics 2015
Written by Randy Stradley
Illustrated by Doug Wheatley
Coloured by Rain Beredo
The mystic warrior King Tiger and his new assistant, Milo Sturges, witness a ritual mass murder of blood and fire that manifests an unthinkable obscenity from a dark universe. Tiger’s own considerable powers seem useless against the horrific leviathan, but when his and Milo’s escape is cut off by those who released the monstrosity into our world, the fact becomes clear that Tiger and Milo have blundered into a trap!
So we pick up right where we left off with Milo driving and the two being caught between the villains on one side and the summoned demon on the other. Now there’s a reason this duo, Rand and Doug, are among my all time favorites working teams and it’s all due to the quality of the work we see. Why do I bring that up well you’ll have to see how Tiger gets them out of this predicament to understand.
I was surprised and blown away by Randy’s writing, characterization and just the whole dang story period. Full of the unexpected, revelations, surprises and little in jokes between characters letting them know things without alerting others to it yeah it’s all here. The story itself is just incredibly amazing and as I kept reading it I kept thinking is this really happening?
I’ve said that Doug’s art has been phenomenal for ages and i’ve lauded it on Dark Times and once again he gets to showcase those skills and his imagination with these characters that are chasing Tiger. Seemingly culled from all over mythology of the far east they really do create this whole creepy nightmarish scenario. With Rain’s colouring here it becomes so much more than just your average visuals but hit that level of fascination for the reader that you just don’t want to look away.
Tiger’s origins are revealed this issue and we learn how he’s able to do his magic and where it originates from. Forget whatever you were expecting because you won’t find that here. Randy decided he’s going to mess everybody up and go a route that well not only explains why he’s been tight lipped about his past but about his supposed destiny as well. This whole thing is amazing I can’t get over what these folks have brought to the table.
While Rikki is learning first hand Milo is also learning the truth from the old man. Who by the way kind of looks like this aged version of himself. Tiger the perfect result of a forbidden union, this can’t sit well with his siblings and it wouldn’t surprise me if they were to do this whole uprising thing against the man using them, belittling them and making them feel more than a little useless. They are treated like they are nothing more than servants to be used as the Dragon sees fit and this treatment is usually one’s downfall but we’ll see.
Dark Horse has some of the best books out there. With creators that may not be household names but should be they are quietly putting out some of the strongest quality material on stands right now.