The world’s deadliest fighting skills were his… but what turned John Keehan into Count Juan Raphael Dante? Your Major Spoilers review of Count Dante #2 from Scout Comics awaits!

COUNT DANTE #2

Writer: J.C. Barbour
Artist: Wes Watson
Colorist: Paula Goulart
Letterer: Wes Watson
Editor: Andrea Lorenzo Molinari
Publisher: Scout Comics
Cover Price: $4.99
Release Date: July 26, 2023

Previously in Count Dante: Having finally opened his dream dojo, Keehan gins up publicity through a series of increasingly dangerous martial arts exhibitions. But while it does attract students, it also brings our hero to the attention of a rival dojo’s dangerous sensei: Haruki Endo, the dreaded Pit Viper.

ENTER THE PIT VIPER

Having returned to Chicago after serving in the Vietnam conflict, John Keehan and his partner Sidney have established themselves as the best hairdressers and beard trimmers in the city. They’ve also started their own Black Dragon dojo, which the future Count Dante hypes through a series of increasingly crazy publicity stunts. When he (almost) fights a bull with only the power of his kung-fu, Keehan gets the attention of the men who run the local dojo. But it’s the first of their full-contact combat tournaments that really puts him on the map, in all the wrong ways, as the Cobra Hall of Gun-Fu and Kenpo sends their own men to defeat him. But instead of J.T. Keehan, they find exiled Spanish royal Count Dante, who handles the Cobras and every other would-be champion himself. Having seen his best fighters destroyed, the Cobra’s sensei, Haruki “The Pit Viper” decides to take matter into his own lethal hands.

At least, that’s the way Sidney remembers it…

LIBERTIES WERE TAKEN

The Count Dante story is one of the more fascinating examples of the literally self-made man (but made in the Elmyr DeHory or Princess Caraboo sense). This issue provides the information in the form of an oral history, but like any story being told to you by a guy in a bar, the pacing of the story seems suspect. The establishment of their first tournament is quickly glossed over, while several pages are devoted to the “fight” with an angry bull. There’s also a full-on origin story for the terrifying Pit Viper, which seems like an attempt to create an opponent as awesome as The Count. Unfortunately, the story hasn’t done much to establish Count Dante himself yet, instead seeming to let his reputation speak for him. The art is a lot of fun, managing to generate a lot of drama out of close-ups and static shots, which feels like it shouldn’t work for a story about kung-fu battles. Watson’s rendition of a young Haruki Endo sitting atop a pile of corpses that he personally killed is truly chilling.

BOTTOM LINE: THE SECRETS OF DIM MAK!

As with the first issue, Count Dante #2 suffers from a case of “might read better in the trade” syndrome, but enthusiastic art and a plot that is clearly building to something huge (and knowing the history of the Dojo Wars, I can tell you it is) and doing it with gusto, earning 3 out of 5 stars overall. Given that Count Dante died the year after this issue is set, things might end a bit more explosively than a casual reader might expect.

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COUNT DANTE #2

67%

67%

Is That A Lion?

The story is enjoyable, the art is good, but it's the fake ads that really make it all sing.

• Writing

  6
• Art

  7
• Coloring

  7
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