Samurai Jack #5 (Comics Review)

And so we come to it. The final installment of Jim Zub’s first arc on Samurai Jack. At least, I think this is the final installment, considering how the story here plays out. Its been one hell of a ride thus far and Jim Zub, along with artists Andy Suriano and Josh Burcham and Shawn Lee has done some great work. The previous four issues have been intensely enjoyable, largely in part because the stories and the art have stayed true to the original concept of the Samurai Jack setting, which is a pretty huge plus as far as I am concerned.

With issue #5 we see how Jack’s quest to find all the threads of time and rewound the Rope of Eons plays out to its conclusion. Jack has fought numerous monsters and villains to get to this point and now, finally, he is on his way to collect the final thread, which is in the possession of none other than Aku himself, Jack’s greatest nemesis, and the one responsible for removing him from his time in the first place. All the things that I wanted from this issue, I got, because Jim understands the setting and the characters, and because the artists are just so damn good in every possible way.

If there was anything that was wrong with this issue, it was that it was too short. And that’s just my inner fanboy speaking because I always enjoyed those episodes of the original animated series where Jack went up against Aku. I wanted the fight between the two of them here in this issue to last for at least twice as many pages. I wanted to see every blow and counter-blow, every stratagem and counter-stratagem. These are two of my favourite animated characters ever and watching them is always a joy.

I suppose what I am trying to say here is that I loved the concept here. After four issues, it is high time that we see Aku in this comic. As the true big bad of the setting, he overshadows everything, and he is ever-present here. So it stands to reason that as writer Jim Zub closes out his first arc on the series, he brings in the biggest guns he’s got. And he did it in quite a grand style too, with Jack infiltrating Aku’s private tower, in the center of his dark kingdom, for the final thread of time.

I feel that more than any of the other issues thus far, this is the one that has the most humour. I mean, once you see Aku cracking some (monologue-y) jokes, then that is something beyond anything. Or something like that. Heh.

But yeah, I definitely enjoyed this issue. It had some nice kick-ass action and some great humour. And it also underscored the power of the Rope of Eons, which was pretty awesome in itself. However, Aku’s characterisation did feel a little off, and one of the twists felt a bit forced, because of how ridiculous it was.

As far as the art is concerned, I liked it. Nothing wrong with it at all, on any level. With the Rope of Eons finally rewound in this issue, we get to see it in action, and there’s a ice blend of the pencils and the colours in those panels. And lots of panels with a bit of a dark vibe, which is doubly fitting given the story itself and the conclusion of it, that happens.

Not really much else to say about this issue. I liked it. It was good. It had a good story, and it had good art. Certainly recommended.

Rating: 9/10

More Samurai Jack: #1, #2, #3, #4.