Danger Club #6 Review

Danger Club #6 takes Kid Vigilante into the afterlife and reveals just how important he really is.

DANGER CLUB #6
Writer: Landry Q. Walker
Artist: Eric Jones
Colouist: Michael “Rusty” Drake with Garry Black
Letterers: Richard Starkings and Comicraft’s Jimmy Betancourt
Editor: Branwyn Bigglestone
Publisher: Image Comics
Cover Price: $2.99

Previously in Danger Club #5: Kid Vigilante died.

KID VIGILANTE HAS SEEN IT ALL

Danger Club #6 has hit shelves after a two year hiatus. Writer Landry Q. Walker is the original storyteller behind the series and this is an outstanding issue. It’s dense and calls upon a ton of mythological tropes, but with the sheer amount of time that has elapsed between publication of the past two issues it’s a difficult reading experience.

Landry has presented readers with the story of a mortal hero entering the realm of Hades with all the trappings from Greek mythology that one has come to expect. One of the only uniquely defining factors of Danger Club #6 is the character of Kid Vigilante. The young superhero has been the series protagonist from the opening and it can’t be missed that he is a Robin analogue. The interesting thing we learn through a series of flashbacks in Danger Club #6 is that he’s maybe more of a Jason Todd than anyone else.

Apollo – Kid Vigilante’s self-declared enemy and all around annoying guy – is trapped in the same strange afterlife as Kid Vigilante in the pages of Danger Club #6 and he calls out the pantheon of Greek Gods and Goddesses to save him. He fills the role of cowardly villain and Walker drives the hero’s journey archetype even more presently into the readers’ consciousness by having Kid Vigilante pick up and wield a buckler and a Myrmidon-inspired sword. Like a true hero, Kid Vigilante has come to protect and not to slay and to enlist the aid of every Godhead who will listen to him.

As mentioned above, Danger Club #6 is peppered with flashbacks to Kid Vigilante’s past and readers get a chance to learn about his history with Red Vengeance (who turns out to have been his father), and what exactly he has clanging around inside his head. Kid Vigilante exists both to herald and prevent the end of the world. In a move that is unsurprising, though nonetheless very interesting, Walker has the physical embodiment of the threat to the universe be a figure out of Greek mythology.

The action of Danger Club #6 steps the book up to an entirely different arena than previous issues. There is a lot of heavy plot development going on in twenty-two pages that is extremely well crafted, deftly handled and methodically plotted out. The problem is, if it takes the reader more than half the issue to remember who Apollo is and why he’s an integral part of the narrative (and he most definitely is), the reading experience gets a touch frustrating.

Danger Club #6 is easily one of the coolest, most compelling comics on the racks and I cannot help but wish there were an official release date for the next issue.

AMAZING ART

Eric Jones displays his stunning talents through the pages of Danger Club #6. He and the colouring team bring the ethereal and supernatural qualities of an afterlife to life with images and colours that are poised to jump off the page. When Kid Vigilante takes on Cerberus (oh, yeah, that happens!), the scene feels like something that belongs in a tome of mythology.

The character comparisons between Kid Vigilante and Robin continue in the art of Danger Club #6. He is spry, slight and with dark hair. The protagonist’s youthful appearance make the weight of his mission and the scale he is fighting on come across as all the more oppressive. It’s impossible not to feel for Kid Vigilante because Jones has styled him as a little boy battling against the world.

In contrast, Apollo with his light hair and glowing eyes is clearly more at home in this Greek Hell than he ever was on Earth. He certainly stands a pathetic figure, but Jones has rendered him with as much skill and grace as Kid Vigilante and it’s difficult not to find the young arrogant Sun God tremendously beautiful.

There is so much promise in the visual storytelling of Danger Club #6 that, again, it is sad not to know when readers will be getting more.

THE BOTTOM LINE: CATCH UP TO THIS ISSUE

Danger Club #6 is an awesome issue. Kid Vigilante is a fascinating character. There are no women in this entire issue. If you want to really get something out of this story – and I do recommend picking it up – it would behoove you to binge through the rest of the series first.