Final Boss #5 // Review
There is blood everywhere. The hero just decapitated someone. And it's only just a few pages into the issue. There is an internal mile along that doesn't necessarily have anything to do with this slaughter on the page. The gentleman in question is looking for answers. He was told that he would get them if he helped some people out. And it turns out that helping people out involves killing people. It's OK, though: they’re “savages.” the strangely dated pulpy action adventure continues in Final Boss #5. Writer/artist Tyler Kirkham, artist David Miller and colorist Ifansyah Noor continue their...thing.
The queen is a bit angry about the whole killing thing. She and her people are cannibals so...y’know...when they kill the hero in question, they’re going to feast on his corpse. Of course, that's not going to happen. Because he is the hero of the book. Victory might cost him. But he's not going to find out right away. After all, there's a stampede going on. The cannibals have unleashed some sort of demonic beast that they need to run from if they are going to be able to survive. Things aren't getting any easier for them.
Kirkham moves from a single combat with a single person to a chase sequence. It's not really going to come as much as a surprise that there really isn't any of the backstory that might have been explored with respect to the information of the male lead seeks. It's just a big, bloody pair of action sequences. There is a bit of revelation about some of what's going on. That's actually kind of fun in its own way. But for the most part, this is a big and dumb, stupid comic book and that's perfectly OK because it doesn't want to be anything more than that. It's not trying to be any more than that.
The action shoots across the page fairly efficiently. Lots of blood's better and decapitated heads. That's kind of fun. The impact of the action doesn't always hit in quite the right way to create the maximum sort of over the top action that they seem to be going for a year. And, of course, none of the drama really feels all that intense given the fact that they're really isn't much in the way of more sophisticated characterization with either of the two leads.
At the rate at which the series is going, it could take quite some time to really build up much genuine concern for the male lead. The fact that a part of his past is shrouded in mystery is only barely enough to keep the pages turning. Damn so much of the action feels pretty dull and in distinct on the page. This is not to say that there isn't some potential. The action is actually competently rendered. And given the right direction they could actually turn into something interesting. As of the current issue in the series, however, it's just not there yet.
