REVIEW: Epic Kill #5

Here Comes the Epic Conclusion of This Epic Tale About An Epic Kill by An Epic Assassin and Other… Epic-ness? More After the Epic Jump!

EPIC KILL #5
Writer: Raffaele Ienco
Artist: Raffaele Ienco
Publisher: Image Comics, Inc.
Cover Price: $2.99

Previously in Epic Kill: We find out that the crime Senator Rook perpetrated against Song and her family was a hit and run. Song’s choice to walk the path of vengeance instead of staying with her master leads her, or has been leading in this case, on a rampage to destroy Senator Rook. Then she gets a shotgun blast to the head.

EPIC PREDICTABILITY

This book opens with Song heading to the electric chair. After a brief monologue about how deadly she is, Song narrates what has happened up to this point. In essence, she survived being shot in the head (stating that it was a “flesh wound”), escaped a crashing truck, hunted down Senator Rook through a forest into what was presumably an old chemical plant, then proceed to epically kill Senator Rook. Sort of. Then some mysticism happens.

The main problem with this book, and the series for that matter, is that it’s Kill Bill but not as much fun. Raffaele Ienco doesn’t really attempt to hide this semi-rip-off, since he has included art of Song in the same yellow attire found in Kill Bill previously in the series.

Normally, this sort of victim-out-for-vengeance story is good for something quick and entertaining to pass the time. In this case, it falls flat and is, at most, laughable. And not the good kind. Perhaps it was Raffaele Ienco’s intention to have something so over the top and ridiculous that it was absurdly amusing. Should that be the case, this book definitely succeeded. However, the final panels all have a somber tone that possibly implies Ienco is going for a serious story. It’s really hard to tell.

If there’s anything that Ienco should be credited for, it’s his ‘what could have happened’ scenes. He makes Song an unreliable narrator at some points in the book, having her say what could have happened, then rewinding the scene and saying what actually happened. This happens a few times in the book and is a little interesting when it does, but it’s not a redeeming factor in the long run.

EPIC DEAD EYES

The art is too distractingly inadequate for this series that it’s difficult to focus on the story.

This book is way too colorful for what it is. The story is to be gritty and violent. Yet, the colors don’t reflect that and the whole series doesn’t feel organic because of it. A much darker palette would have been more suitable instead of the bright greens and pale pinks the reader is treated too. A lack of shadows or shadowing on the author’s part only makes the color scheme seem that much brighter.

Then there’s the character’s themselves. What I couldn’t get over was how dead everyone’s eyes looked. There are no expressions, except for maybe a slight opening of the mouth. It feels as if one is watching someone pose a bunch of mannequins with blood spatter added in as an after thought. If the characters had a bit more emotion or individuality instead of feeling so plastic, it would have been much easier to overlook the coloring and lack of shading.

BOTTOM LINE: Epic No

As a fan of kitschy 70s grindhouse type movies, I really wanted to like this series. I really tried. I really wanted the finale to be, ya know, epic, like the title suggests. It just wasn’t. I cared about none of the characters, got bored halfway through and was only surprised by the ending in that it failed to deliver what it was attempting to build up to. The only redeeming quality about this book is Ienco’s attempt to both write and illustrate a series all by his lonesome. Gotta support a person’s attempt at being indie, right?

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