Scabbs and Yolanda

Here’s where the story has a brief reprieve from being the adventures of the character named on the front cover. Scabbs and Yolanda is a three-parter spinoff. The title makes it quite obvious what this story will be about. Before I get into this multi-parter, this story will be graded as a whole. Unlike previous multi-parters I’ve graded on different parts of the story, I don’t feel the need here. The story is pretty straight forward; it could've even been squeezed into one whole lone part. But without any further delay, here it is...

Scabbs and Yolanda

While Kal’s away in Inquisition service, we’re left to ponder what Scabbs does. Kal, after all, is away for quite some time. It’s fair to assume it’s at the very least been a day or two. And the underhive doesn't wait on Kal Jerico.

The story starts with Scabbs having taken up a new bounty hunting accomplice – Hef (who looks stereotypically somewhere between a gay biker, a grizzled RAF pilot and an amputee). It becomes clear straight away that Scabbs is suffering from abandonment issues. Coping bitterly with Kal’s departure he’s trying to leave that part of his life behind. This has an odd human element to it.

Scabbs and Hef

Scabbs and Hef are searching the underhive for their bounties. Spying an outlaw camp ahead they sneak forward only to notice they’re all dead. Scabbs inspects the camp. The four upright-sitting corpses have been hosed with high quality ammunition. This may well be where Scabbs extensive knowledge is most prominent, as it leads him to conclude the ammunition is unique on Necromunda to house Catallus. As the words roll off his tongue he becomes uncomfortably aware of how much danger they may be in. Before he has ample time to warn Hef, he’s ripped apart by full-auto fire right infront of Scabb’s eyes.

The death of Hef

As Scabbs attempts his escape, firing over one shoulder and losing the female silhouette pursuing him it feels like a good time to talk about the artist. Roman Sydor presides of the first two parts of Scabbs and Yolanda. This fresh blood is awfully similar to the styles Paul Davidson. This becomes most evident when the action begins, and suddenly the movement transitioning one frame to the other looks awkward and disjointed. Asides this, whatever strengths he has is pretty much equal to Paul Davidson’s.

The only real difference comes in as Scabbs thinks he’s escaped Yolanda only to run headlong into her in a scene which I suppose is meant to be funny, but falls short and delivers as only odd and out of place. It’s not that that caught my eye though – it’s Yolanda’s crazed look as she corners Scabbs. It’s truly freaky, speaking of the type of woman you wouldn't want to screw over (either one of two ways). 

What comes next is a little out of the blue. Up until now Yolanda has always harboured a deep grudge to Kal Jerico. So does she eliminate his closest of companions, the one who recommended having her shot? No, she presents him with an offer to team up together. She’s bought off her bounty and purchased a bounty hunting licence, and all because she was bored of her old lifestyle. This is all very perplexing. 

Could it be that all of this apparent hate of Kal Jerico is really her trying to hide an undying love of the man? Maybe teaming up with Scabbs by eliminating his new parter is the best way she has of hooking up with Kal. Talk about messed up and convoluted, but maybe that’s exactly what she is. Every time I scan a new page of this book to upload to this blog I see the covers of the three novels contained inside. The last of which, entitled Lasgun Wedding has Kal and someone who can only be Yolanda (surely?) ready to be engaged. I mean she has her facial marking, her aesthetic. The only difference is her bride’s dress. With that all in mind, maybe it isn't that bizarre of a twist. It does make me compare her to Helga from Hey Arnold though.

Onto part two and Scabbs is now assisting Helga in hunting her quarry – a ratskin renegade chieftain. His explanation as to how one should tackle different groups is quite tactical, again showing the brainier side of Scabbs. This doesn't stop him from acting the coward as soon as they notice him and charge. Neither does it stop Yolanda from acting the idiot when they charge.

Really Yolanda?

I suppose she’s more of the atypical barbarian, which makes even more sense when she grabs Scabbs and charges right back at them. Which is... pretty bad-ass actually. The two battle their way to the centre of combat where Yolanda confirms their mark with Scabbs, ripping one of his leg to shreds in a hail of bullets. This leads to some wonderful panicked dialogue between Scabbs and a wonderfully certain response from Yolanda. Scabbs curses Kal Jerico again and the two escape the one way he’d warned Yolanda not to go.

I see... I'll be sure to tell that to the entire gang of yours you let
die in The Nemo Agenda.

They've run right into a ratskin burial ground. Yolanda, however, doesn't see the danger. This leads to some wonderful re-capping which raises a good point. Oddly, there are some striking similarities Kal and Yolanda have. More fodder for my earlier theory.

The ratskins have started a ghost dance chant. Despite Yolanda’s best scepticisms, it doesn't stop the ratskins summoning their ancestors in zombie form to do away with the intruders.

Part three changes hands, and now we’re confronted by the art of new-blood Richard Elson. All I have to say is that he has an annoying penchant for drawing everyone’s faces as if they were vampires from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I dunno why he chose to do it that way, but it’s a really off-putting style!

It's not just this shot. Whatever emotion anybody pulls in this episode they have
that face.

Anyway, part three continues into the action. We’re delivered into Scabbs and Yolanda putting up a stand against the surrounding zombies, which Scabbs explains aren't regular zombies. This ain't no virus or regular run of zombies. Well, not for sci-fi anyway. These are re-animated by a different source. Ratskin magic. You can blow the head clean off one of these zombies and they’ll keep coming.

With the situation getting ever worse Yolanda does like Kal and makes her escape. She grapnels away with Scabbs and her quarry in tow. Things are almost looking up when one of the natives blasts her right through the shoulder, making her instinctively let go of the bounty. Being as hot-headed as she is, Yolanda jumps free of her escape and slaughters all contenders to her prize. All of that and with a knife no less!

Postscript shows how this becomes a ratskin tale told in revered fear: “Yolanda, a terrifying angel of death trapped in human form”.

So straight to the point – Yolanda and Scabbs is 6.5 out of 10 in my opinion. It has some brilliant little bits, but for every great bit we have some entirely cheesy bits too. There are many parts that beg question that ultimately aren't answered and some parts are plain nonsensical. It’s fun in a Doomsday kinda way. We have some insight into the characters, but it feels the characters aren't really developed at all. There’s also an awkward transition between artists. The last shot of Scabbs and Yolanda in part two shows Scabbs in a position where he’s ready to start quailing at the impending zombie attack. It is therefore very, very hard for me to believe that he’s instantaneously recovered and started blasting away zombies with grim determination.

Relp me Rolanda

It’s still a fair and even in some parts good story, just not quite as good as I’d hoped. Next I’ll be covering Homecoming, and my least favourite of the Kal Jerico artists – Dylan Teague. See you Monday for that review.

--Blackwire 

Above & Beyond Parts 7-9

Part Seven

Part Seven starts with Kal off on a tangent of being lied to.  Funny thing is, having now re-read Above & Beyond, that Kal seems to have assumed all of this. I don’t think the Inquisitor or any of her retinue had told Kal what he believes the truth. As the group set melta charges on the door he still hasn’t finished ranting. Oddly, Kal may be close to the least likeable of all the characters in this story. He spends most of it in a moody adolescent mindset. Some of the time you can sympathise, but sometimes you just want him to shut up. This is one of those times.

At least he has the good decency to ask a logical question: it’s one of those, ‘Surely we can harness the ring of power’ questions that the weak of will ask in these good versus evil confrontations. It’s not that Kal is of the blackened soul of a malignant force of darkness. He’s just a regular human unawares of how the weapon they seek will ultimately eff them over without a moment’s doubt.

Okay, Kal’s not that bad in this sequence. The retinue’s answers seem pretty much in agreeance that the Madame-Inquisitor is the opinion to be followed and the team blow clean through the doors in quite the expansive explosion and enter the chamber wherein lies their objective.

As they all bask in the true ancientness of the place the story takes a twist. Vanyan Kloss betrays his companions. Acting as the herald to Inquisitor Malva, heading the Deathwatch boarding party, he reveals their motives. Whereas Heleana intends to destroy the Necron weapon, Inquisitor Malva and his followers plan on harnessing it to bring the Imperium’s own weaponry up to speed.

The Captain & Inquisitor Malva

Now backed by Inquisitor Malva and his terrifyingly powerful accompanying crew, Heleana is reduced to fighting with her words. Malva orders the Deathwatch squad to arrest Heleana and secure the sarcophagus containing “the weapon”. Here’s where things take yet another turn, the Captain, a member of the Raven Guard, who trusts not the words of Malva, takes charge (I guess he got the best asset of his Primarch) and is on the verge of taking in both sides for questioning when the whole tomb starts coming to life. Out of the sarcophagus steps a colossus of a Necron, and all of the action is about to kick off.

Whereas the previous part was kept alive by the urgency, action and scale, Part Seven boils down to the clashing of ideologies, and it’s a very interesting idea. It’s this thought that even within the vastness of a “unified” Imperium, there are still many ways for folks of different dogma to break into violent segregation. This part is very intriguing, and I wish there were more of it. However, in writing terms this argumentative part of the story is far from a masterpiece. It’s still very good, asides a little of Kal Jerico we have to withstand. Oddly, I think story would've been a lot better with some different treatment, like not going along with making the story all about this bounty hunter. Sure, it’s his series, but his teenage strops deduct from his likeability at times. For these reasons Part Seven scores 7.5 out of 10.

Part Eight

“Once it had a name: The Setekh, one of the greatest of the Necrontyr’s creations, one of the most powerful servants of the C’tan. Once it had a purpose: To bring death to every corner of the galaxy, to raise black pyramid monuments to its deathless masters on a thousand barren and blasted worlds. Now, awoken from its eons-long hibernation, it does not yet remember any of this. All it knows is that its rest has been disturbed, that its tomb refuge has been invaded... even after a slumber of sixty million years, its response is instinctive and instantaneous.”

That set-up text eh? Furthering this we have a flashback to the last time Necrons reaped the universe: Eldar clash against Necrons in a futile stand. I’d say this was the last vestige of memory the Setekh has. As it clambers from its statis, spying intruders, well, see above text. It then downs two Space Marines with blasts from his eyes. Dead just like that! And in the words of Kal Jerico, “How are you supposed to kill something like that..!?” That’s a bloody good question. Space Marines, the demigod-like elite infantry force of the far future. The kind of infantry that can best ten mortals at once in close quarters and walk through hails of standard issue fire like they’re walking in a light downpour of rain, and two are most definitely dead.

Even Space Marines can't continue fighting without a head!

To make matters worse the damned thing is only at a small part of its full strength. While it rampages through the Inquisitor Malva’s boarding party, Heleana deduces that they must destroy it’s sarcophagus to weaken it. Merelda, who is ever ready to prove herself to mother, jumps ahead to exact her will. Almost immediately she is gunned down in a hail of fire. This course of action by Vanyan Kloss may have been his worst decision. Heleana gives into her emotion, the death of a family member obviously is the push that bring about her ire. She unleashes Kal and Mordak, who outrun Vanyan’s rapid fire. In one hell of a co-operative feat, Mordak injures Vanyan with a shuriken while Kal detonates his ammo supply with some well placed shots.

Kal then goes in with the sabre, just as furious about Vanyan’s actions. Vanyan counters and locks up Kal’s arm, goading him into attack by insulting his quality of melee fighting as being all bark and no bite. So, responsively, Kal headbutts him. The joy of this scene had me in an ecstatic fit of joy.

Mordak has frozen up, chirping a desperate sentence. Kal being unable to break to the language barrier is perturbed, that is, until he sees what Mordak sees. The Setekh has turned its attention to Mordak, Vanyan and Kal. Whilst being horrified by this discovery, Kal and Mordak are still fast enough on their feet to dodge the gauss beams of the giant skeleton. Vanyan however, much to his displeasure, gets his just desserts.

Hereon the situation becomes more and more desperate as the surviving Inquisitorial forces are cut down and almost enveloped by Necrons. Things aren’t looking too bright at the end of Part Eight.

8 out of 10, for an intriguing and unpredictable action sequence. It’s only let down by how Vanyan stays on overwatch while his allies are cut down around him. Something about this seems to defy the laws of human psychology. Otherwise, it’s great, highly enjoyable stuff.

Part Nine

While Kal and Mordak put up a last stand that the defenders of Rorke’s Drift would be proud of, Heleana (who is protecting the downed Merelda) devises a way to escape this apparent death-trap. Seeing Malva in the process of teleporting away she orders Kal to stop him. A pinpoint shot severs Malva’s hand clean off, and Malva is sucked into the warp. More just desserts.

Heleana and her surviving retinue make a dash to Malva’s teleporter homer. Urgently Heleana requests the Deathwatch vessel to teleport them away from danger. The Setekh draws closer and right at the last second, as they all seem doomed, they teleport back to the vessel, all in one piece. Heleana commandeers the ship by Inquisitorial edict and orders exterminatus upon the Space Hulk Kronos. Cyclonic torpedoes rip into the gargantuan vessel, but before it is entirely obliterated it’s sucked back into the warp.

Kal and Heleana are left to ponder the success of the mission. Now free of the mission, they check in on the recovering Merelda in her medicae chambers. This is where the ending shifts from a lot of the power of the story before. Kal is gifted Wotan by Merelda and not wanting to be in the service of the Inquisition any longer, heads home to show off his new toy. This blindside happy ending makes sense, but could've been handled so much better. It’s the suffering factor of Kal Jerico that the stories rarely seem to be long enough to space out the timing for the ending. Alas, they usually feel too rushed, even so in this nine-parter – the most expansive of all the Kal Jerico comics.

The final part gains 7 out of 10. The ending itself is pretty satisfactory and lives up to the forerunning material. It’s just the turn it takes when they visit Merelda.

So all in all Above & Beyond averages a 8.2 out of 10. Definitely the most accomplished Kal Jerico multi-parter thus far. Next we have the three-part Yolanda & Scabbs. I’ll be tackling this one all in one go. Thankfully the Omnissiah has been on my side this weekend. See you all again, either Monday or Friday.

--Blackwire.

Above & Beyond Parts 4-6

Part Four

Part four continues from the previous a little further down the line. The boarding party are busy probing the areas ahead with servitors. For what seems to have been the past hour or two they've systematically been rooting out the many traps that Kronos has neatly tried rebuking them with. Yet again the quality of strategical chatter sucks you right into the setting. It’s truly amazing how the little things can make all of the difference.

Just as some of the group have gotten a little too comfortable the last of their servitors’ runs clean into another trap. The resulting blast of raw energy completely levels all flesh and organs from the servitor. Only a withered skeletal frame and cybernetics remain. I wonder what alien race could possibly possess that kind of technology?

Well, these guys too... but they're not who I'm on about!

 As Kal muses sentimentally in Shakespearean pose, he wonders now their lobotomised stock of test-dummies is gone, how they’ll test for traps. The looks he receives are enough to give him an answer. As far as travelling in the Inquisitorial retinue is concerned your life is expendable for the greater good of the Imperium. Just how likely you are to be put at risk depends on how valuable (/long-serving) you are.

Before things can get too settled Vanyan finds a recently expired soldier bearing the logo of Lord Helmawr. Determined to beat Heleana to the prize, Helmawr’s men have taken a far less subtle route to the source. Many of his clueless lackeys have sprung what should be the remainder of the traps. Merelda hears gunfire, and Heleana spurs on her group into the fray where awaits a Necron beholder. Now I've just made that name up because I have no clue what it is. It’s not divulged to us. It’s just a massive floating skull bearing a Pharaoh's mantle and shooting gauss beams from its eyes. It sounds just a bit like a beholder, 'kay? And this beholder is busy decimating Lord Helmawr’s troops.

In true military fashion Heleana splits her fire-teams to tackle the opponent as best suits the situation. Kal, Merelda and Mordak draw fire, and Tarren and Vanyan focus fire. I love how they show what volumes and types of fire are required to bring down a monster such as this with record speed.

 Things then get even more heated. Lord Helmawr’s forces aren’t the least bit grateful of this interjection, and furthermore, refuse to cede to Inquisitorial edict. Things look spurred for some juicy Imperial in-fighting. Luckily Kal is on alert and draws both sides attention to an even bigger threat...

Above & Beyond has some hair-raising cliffhangers, guaranteed to get 40k geeks dizzy with excitement. I love Lord Helmawr’s forces – how their military uniform is a mixture of WW2 German, Renaissance Italy, and a tad Ancient Roman. It looks fantastic. Yet again this episode has a little cheese but cuts to the chase quick enough to keep you swayed in the immersion of an exciting story. Some of the grandeur of the last part is gone, but I still really like it – 8.5 out of 10.

Part Five

Necrons, if it weren't for Space Marines they’d have the best all-around Troop choices in Warhammer 40,000. I’m so glad Gordon Rennie and Wayne Reynolds picked up on this. Almost the entirety of this part is one well-paced fight between the temporary Heleana-Helmawr alliance and the Necrons. There’s some exposition at the outbreak, but anyone with even the most basic knowledge of the Necrons will know what is being said. That said, most of the Imperium’s populace have no knowledge that Necrons exist.

Ultimately teamwork pulls through and the weathered humans count their numbers. Most of Helmawr’s men are dead, including the most objectionable of them. Of Heleana’s retinue only Tarren was lost in the struggle. It’s strange how a character I knew nothing about evokes such a melancholy mood in me – especially as his skeletal remains are barely recognisable.

Alas, poor Tarren

Before we, or Kal, are given much time to be sentimental over losses, a new force arrives. To add to Heleana’s “small scale” operation, and the forces of Lord Helmawr, now just freshly arrived for their claim on Kronos are the Deathwatch! Oh wow oh wow oh wow! Now we have a bigger potential threat; 8.5 out of 10.

Part Six

So how does an intro blow Nemo’s out of the water in my opinion? – Space Marine boarding torpedo entrance. Immediately the scale has been restored. Watching these professional warriors walk from the mists of their destruction is truly thrilling, and under the command of an Inquisitor no less. He also has a small retinue, and it’s fun to test your knowledge of the background while looking at what they consist of.

Things are now immediately racier. There’s a lot that Heleana hasn't told Kal, and now is the time to fill him in. We’re given the origin story of the Necrons as written in their first codex. For the fact I know it already – wow! The visuals really keep the up-scaled sensation fixed well in place. We see really epic images. I don’t use that word often. So when I say it is epic, it really is; sweeping, endless Necron legions, a space war of an ancient time eons bygone, even the remnant buildings of their empire standing in unabashed solitude – a testament to their timeless nature. Sure, the story’s the same, but the artwork brings to the forefront imagery we've not seen before. Mainly the lone temple structure, I've never seen one exactly like that in the 40k universe.

Cut back to the Jerico ensemble and they've now located their objective. Doors big enough to be the gates of Hades bar the way, a large Necron glyph inscribed on the front. Kal is now quite mad at what he perceives trickery on his mother’s part, but like us the question most pertinently gnawing away at him is what’s behind that door? “This hulk is the tomb of one of their most powerful servants”, “a terrible weapon which we cannot allow the C’tan to regain control of”.

This is potent stuff indeed, this kind of story is brilliant. I'm considering the flaws here, because this one was so good I may flat out give it 10 out of 10 while I pick my jaw back up off the ground. The setting, already something vastly unimaginable as it is, has just been upscaled by all the pieces in play. It’s the kind of stuff that has kept my love affair with Warhammer 40,000 aflame all of these years, despite the ever increasing price! I'm truly awed by the connotations here. Y’know, that kind of awe that leaves you deep in impassioned fan boy mode, unable to shake the shivers you've just received for a good few hours. The only downside is the occasional smattering of comic book atypical lines. They can bring you out of the situation real quick, but here the story is so up there and racy it’s hard to notice these instances for long. Part Six, 9.5 out of 10, it’s masterly, but still oh-so-slightly out of place every now and then.  

Above & Beyond Parts 1-3

Originally this post was supposed to go up last Monday. Due to technical difficulties I was unable to upload the complete version. After communion to the Omnissiah, the ancient machine to which the scanner is linked is now functioning! I now intend to have parts 4-6 & 7-9 done and uploaded over the next two days. Hopefully the Machine-God will be kind over the next few days.

Above & Beyond is something unto itself. It’s not quite the regular Kal Jerico series. It’s longer & more fleshed out than any of the previous multi-parters and it’s not technically the tale of Kal Jerico, Necromundan bounty hunter. It is still Kal Jerico, but as the title insinuates, it’s a space-bound adventure, and it covers a lot more than bounty hunting.

Part One

Really I’d say Killing Time was the part one to Above & Beyond, but seeing as it’s not I’ll refer to it as a prelude... maybe even a prologue.

Right off the bat the quality of this series is more evident. The flavour text actually tells us things that are insightful and useful to know. We see the Enforcers in action for the first time, and boy is this an action-packed opening. You can always tell when Kal is out of his league when he’s on the run right at the beginning of an episode. Spyrers, the full of Guzman Ludd’s hired muscle, a grossly overgrown giant spider, and Arbites – these are what we know to be more than a challenge for Kal. Whereas other gangs went for Kal directly, the Enforcers are operating under guise of a cull, entering the underhive to cut down the lawless and the innocent alike in an effort to keep the populace in order by fear.

We’re really shown the desperation of the situation as the underhivers flee, not bothering to draw weapons; the best chance of survival is probably being the farthest away in the crowd. We’re informed Kal has survived three of these culls before. Using his guile he dives around a corner only to be met by more Enforcers.

I can’t recall a situation where Kal has drawn his sabre and not breezed through a melee fight. Here, it’s apparent he’s in a desperate struggle, giving it his all. It is intervention from the loyal Scabbs that grants him a quick exit. Even then, there are more Enforcers in the immediate perimeter!

Kudos to Wayne Reynolds for drawing
Scabbs with a Native American club! It's
a nice tie-in to his Ratskin heritage

Asides from a wonderfully claustrophobic feeling this episode really continues in fashion of showing a scale of difficulty. It’s something that fundamentally makes it better than The Redeemer. The Redeemer is never shown as having any particular difficulty in dispensing his opponents, no matter how stupendously tough they become. Despite being shot, pistol whipped and clubbed over the back of the head, the armoured Enforcers still aren't out for the count. Dazed would be more accurate. Yes, down, dazed and reeling from the onslaught, but recuperating quickly. Given half a minute they’ll be back in shape.

Kal & Scabbs are on their feet again quickly. Taking flight before the Enforcers can capture them. Yet again the desperation of the situation rubs heavily on this episode. You know things are really dangerous when Kal instructs Scabbs to split ways. This Scabbs does. A lone Enforcer locks on to Kal, a guided round ready to take him down, but his superior belays his actions. While pulling his best Dredd face, he reminds his lesser that they only need flush Jerico out in the open.

Kal rounds another corner only to be greeted by a strangely varied group. He jumps clean of the heavy, uses one of his well-practiced counterweight kicks to deliver a knackering kick to the oncoming Kroot, and just as he’s cock-sure that he can down strikingly-similar female “enforcer”, she springs her cyber-mastiff Wotan on him. Kal is subdued by her order, and the captured Kal is taken uphive.

Here we learn that they’re all the retinue of Madame-Inquisitor Jerico. Well, we already knew the heavy was. What plays out is an interesting angle on what happens when members of the Inquisition have offspring. Kal is very much reduced is psyche to an injured child, whilst his mother is every bit the cold, well-calculated agent to a higher cause. Her devotion to the Imperium has left Kal an abandoned child left to find a way on a harsh and overpopulated planet. She’s a brilliant Inquisitor, but a terrible mother.

Above the cloud-line of Necromunda she offers Kal a “job”, more than that, a chance to prove himself, and it’s all climbing to new heights from here.

Part One is simply great. No Kal Jerico story has had me this wholly hooked since Raintown. The atmosphere is even darkened to fit the darkened theme at play – 8 out of 10.

Part Two

Kal is transported off Necromunda by shuttle to the Madame-Inquisitor’s personal Sword-Class Frigate – one of many ships orbiting the planet. There’s a nice reference to one of the Inquisition special characters in this sequence.

For what is probably the first time in his life Kal looks upon Necromunda from far removed perspective. In what I suspect to be Heleana (Jerico/the Madame-Inquisitor/Lady Jena Orechiel – take your pick) trying to tell Kal the significance to her role, she tells him of the magnitude of the universe, and how small an unquantifiable fraction of it Necromunda is. Much harboured angst and rebellion is still evident from Kal’s reaction. The lack of a father figure – and a mother that was never around – has moulded him into a much different path and perspective.

Determined not to be drawn into petty squabbling, Heleana moves things along, now is the time to meet the team. The whole retinue is in the process of training against melee servitors who look suspiciously like arco-flagellants. First we’re introduced to the heavy-set Vanyan Kloss, oldest companion and most trusted of the Madame-Inquisitor. He’s an ex-Enforcer, and doesn't seem to warm to Kal too well. Next is, Merelda, who Kal seems all too keen to meet. She’s deftly dispatching servitors with all of the agility of an assassin, and with exceptional use of a katana and knife too. All of her skill, we’re told, is by-product of Heleana’s training, and before Kal can become too infatuated, she also informs Kal they’re blood relatives. Finally there’s Mordak and Magos Tarren. Mordak is a Kroot mercenary, won over to Heleana’s retinue from a victorious death duel. Both, in my opinion, are brilliantly drawn by Reynolds and for different reasons.

Meet the team. From left to right: Merelda, Wotan, Heleana, Mordak,
Vanyan, Kal & Tarren

Mordak, as a Kroot, is drawn perfectly. The way he leaps, runs and stands, his attacks, his hunched over eating, his demeanour and facial expressions. It may be safe to say that Reynolds draws a far more convincing Kroot than he does any human. We’re also told all the basics about Kroot, just in case you didn't know already, and also highlighting that the Madame-Inquisitor is of the Ordo Xenos. Now the reason I love the Magos is his spindly, almost skeletal frame.He looks like he’s fully embraced the Mechanicus way of life, operating machinery without having to afford it a glance. He also looks remarkably like Abe Sapien from Hellboy with his goggles on, which probably explains my immediate attachment.

The Magos explains that one of Lord Helmawr’s ships is tailing them, probably intent on beating them to their goal. In a quirky twist we find out Lord Helmawr is Kal’s father. Though this is a little out there and weird last minute blurb, I do love how Heleana casually dismisses it. “It was all a long time ago, and just one of the many disagreeable things one has to do for the greater good of the Imperium.” Ever the professional, Madame-Inquisitor. Yet again, Kal’s left butt-hurt over the sudden imparting of news.

Skipping ahead, we’re now at the goal, and with some brilliant Martian techno-babble, we’re introduced to the objective – the Space Hulk Kronos.

Yet again, a solid 8 out of 10 score. Though despite a few major quirks, the story is still really quite engaging, leaving off on a cliff-hanger grander than last time. The story is pretty impressive. It’s to its testament that the cheese doesn't bring it down that much.

Part Three  

Wow, the opening of this is awe-inspiring. First off, the way the scale of the Space Hulk is shown – how the titanic Kronos (see what I did there?) dwarfs the almost ant-like vessel of the Madame-Inquisitor. Then there’s the piloting chatter as the vessel is taken in to a suitable docking location. It all sucks me into the universe, makes it believable, and I'm bought right there.

Hulk Kronos. Big, isn't it?

The boarding party is sent in through one of the melta-breaches, still fresh with freshly settling molten edges. The unified entrance of Inquisition forces is quite awesome in its own right. Kal’s still confused about the mission, so Kloss fills him in. They’re after xeno-tech, forbidden but highly valuable. As they take in the colossal room they've entered, Heleana tells Kal that she’s been tracking Kronos for quite a portion of her life now.

Kal still has one prominent question: what’s the hurry? So Merelda explains, and she seems to have a certain sadistic joy from doing so. “Because it’s entirely random about when the hulk will get sucked back into the warp. And if we’re still aboard it when that happens, then the daemons of the warp will tear out your soul and feast upon it for all eternity.” More than a little concerned, Kal hastens ahead. And for the first time in quite a while, one of his lines made me laugh loudly.

Then we have some transitional frames, and for once I feel they were handled really well by Reynolds. He uses them at leisure to show us the bizarre mixes of different alien ships, the journey of the protagonists, the surprises, the interior and exterior and finally the less encouraging – long-dead Ultramarines terminators. The looks on the faces of the retinue are harrowed indeed, and you can feel it. If what lurks on the inside can down the Space Marine’s best, what chances do the retinue have?

And still Heleana is too professional to register emotion

With little warning, the group come under attack. A flood of bizarre creatures attack the retinue. Again, Reynolds proves his competence, taking time to show the action play out. My first guess was these were very strange genestealers. After a maddening, swirling combat the proficient retinue stand victorious and bathed in the blood of their enemies. In high spirits Kal acts the fool, casually stating if that was the worst they had to face, then the mission should be easy. Vanyan and Heleana are quick to ground his expectations. In one of the best uses of transitional foreshadowing Heleana tells Kal that what they fought were merely mutated parasite-scavengers. What lies ahead will be much, much worse.

Wow, what a brilliant marriage of things 40k, brought together in a brilliant seamless blend. This really digs so deeply, so insightfully into the 40k background. It’s more than just a good Kal Jerico story. This is close to the quality of a chapter of Aaron Dembski-Bowden’s Night Lords series. The last time I ranted about something this highly was Nemo. Does this even beat my clinging praise of Nemo? I think so. Just barely though. One could say it goes above & beyond my opinion of Nemo. It’s much more than the most interesting happenings on Necromunda. At least, from Kal Jerico’s stories it is. Part three is a lauded 9 out of 10.    

On Friday (hopefully Saturday now) I’ll tackle the next three parts. And on Monday (hopefully Sunday now) next I’ll have the parts seven to nine reviewed. Stay tuned folks.

--Blackwire  

The Freak & Killing Time

In an unfortunate twist, my brilliant powers of planning ahead weren't so brilliant at all. This means that I am unable to write the review when I normally would. But being determined to still do them today, I am going to do them earlier than usual and try to beat the clock. 

The Freak 

I'm a little stumped on things to say about The Freak. This is probably the most basic plot I've seen in Kal Jerico so far. But I feel a need to go into detail with these reviews. I've summarised, analysed and criticised. I’ll attempt to get what I can out of this, and not fall short.
The Freak throws us into the world of pit fights on Necromunda – gladiatorial arena duels where bionically modified fighters undergo pre-arranged engagements where only one walks out alive, and all much to the joy of a large crowd of spectators. Even in our opening scene the new artist, Daniel Lapham, displays his prowess as an artist. His level of detail is nearing Karl Kopinski’s standards for Jerico, and his detail of different gangers and the scrap-heap structures of the run-down underhive are top quality. Where he does fall down, and this is only a minor criticism at that, is his faces can’t seem to remain coherent at odd angles. This is where he falls short of the Kopinski brothers’ standards. 
So bust in Kal and Scabbs. Kal shoots one of the contestants and gains the attention of the whole stadium. They've tracked a wanted man whose name is just obscured by the edge of the frame. I'm going to go right ahead and assume he’s nicknamed Skin-Face. If I’m wrong, I’ve only assumed one and a half characters. He’s got a bounty worth 500 credits, and as we’ve seen before, Kal is comfortable to go into most highly dangerous places for just that figure. I’ma go ahead and update the Bounty Board. 

1. Yolanda Catallus – 5000 credits. Knowledge that she had become a famed criminal made it likely that House Catallus would be shamed and unlikely to pay reward for her rescue.
2. Kal Jerico – 1200 credits. A price high enough to bring out the greediest wanted criminal scum out of hiding to claim the reward of, and a worthwhile trade off for bringing in Vandal Feg.
3. “Outlands Annie” – 1000 credits. Affections made it that Kal dropped his claim on her.
4. Bucket Head Jaxxon & Plate McGrew – 500 credits each. Price just worth pursuing them both to the death-trap of Raintown.
4. “Skin-Face” – 500 credits. A pit slave – wanted alive.
6. Van Saar Juve – 400 credits. Fee for rescue from guilder custody.
7. Oleg Kaspo – 300 credits. One of the more dangerous breed of escaped pit slaves.
8. Van Saar Juve – 200 credits. Held up a gambling den by himself.
9. Raiff Fortuna – 100 credits. A half-bounty; wanted for murder, robbery, torture and non-payment of guild levies.
10. Escaped pit slaves – 80 credits.

 It doesn't seem particularly off to assume that most bounties are on pit slaves at this stage. I mean the stats above speak for themselves. The owner of the arena runs out, furious about the state of nullification and upheaval that Kal’s little stunt has pulled. All about the arena gangers are pulling guns, we even get a glimpse at a Cawdor ganger. To save his bacon, Kal makes a deal: should he beat one of the arena’s fighters he goes free with his prisoner, should he lose, he pays the up the total flux of lost bets.

So without any mucking about the arena’s best fighter is brought out – The Freak, who bares heavy vibes of Bane and a menacing silence and bondage-heavy look.  Scabbs is ordered off to collect bets, while Kal is seemingly beat senseless over the next couple of pages. Finally, as the bets are truly against him, he reveals his bluff and knocks The Freak senseless. As the spectators see red, firing their guns into the air in outright anger and taking pursuit, Kal collects and plans his escape.
Here’s where I have a few issues. Firstly, I can’t decide whether the entire stadium pulling guns in redneck fashion sits well with me. This is the lawless underhive, and we've just come off the tail of full-out war. Then again, are the majority of spectators, gangers? I’d assume that many underhivers are just the oppressed working class of Hive Primus. Secondly, of all the weird face angles why is Kal drawn like Dolph Lundgren at the end?

I’ve seen him drawn like Tom Hardy, Brad Pitt and the above named by now. I think the best rendition of how I imagine Kal to look is done by a bloke using the handle of The Redeemer (link here). Vocally, I really can’t imagine Kal being voiced by Lundgren. Kal is suave and well-spoken, Dolph is not. I suppose maybe Tom Hardy could pull off a good Kal Jerico, maybe.
I’ve been playing an old 2D classic, Robin Hood: The Legend of Sherwood. It’s cheesy but all sorts of fun! The person voicing Robin makes me think Kal Jerico. I suppose he’d really be my choice. It’s a pity I can’t put a name to him. None of the voice cast is on IMDb, and I’m on a schedule.
The Freak receives 6.5 out of 10. It’s a tad a reminder of Doomsday. The Freak himself works better as a brute-force villain than Vandal Feg. He’s just really intimidating the moment you set eyes on him, and he’s bigger too! The shortcomings of the story are the silliness in some places. Mind you, it’s still enjoyable.

Killing Time 

This episode starts off not quite there, reminding me more of 70’s fantasy than Kal Jerico. Kal has been winning games all night. The small ensemble of gamblers accuses him of cheating. Rather than putting a reason this, they double-cross him and attempt to rob him at blade-point. I always love seeing what details have been crammed into these frames (not as in squeezing in the action mind). The opening page is usually a good bet that you’ll find some, and Killing Time has what may be as many as three of the bounty hunters that help Kal out back in Licenced to Kill.
Before the opening has a chance to work its way into the plot, the floor shakes and a chrono-gladiator the size of an elephant comes crashing through the Sump Hole’s wall! The bullish killing machine is after Kal Jerico and won’t rest until he’s dead. Kal and Scabbs realise the danger they’re in, and make their escape.

Now, Paul Davidson is the new blood here. His detail-work is great, but his motion is off. I suspect he’s trying to copy some of Wayne Reynold’s artistic style. The black on white is pulled of agreeably, but for some reason he decided to go with the hovering run Reynolds favours. But it just doesn't work in the way Reynolds does it. It just makes the frame-to-frame flow disjointedly. Therefore, I actually rate him as being slightly less competent than Reynolds when it comes to movement. However, he’s also of pulling off better detail than Reynolds is. So they’re on the same level, but for different reasons.
As Kal and Scabbs try to outrun the hulking monstrosity we cut out to a few behind the scenes characters monitoring the chase. The muscled and bionic-heavy individual inquisitively asks the shadow-bathed robed individual of the creature’s designation. Here by means of exposition we learn he is a chrono-gladiator, and that this designation means that he’s implanted with a pre-set self destruct program. The timer can only be extended by killing. More importantly, this is for the gathered duo a fitting test for Kal. Back to Kal and Scabbs...

For the second time in two episodes Kal tells Scabbs to get away as he’s the only one the tech-monster wants. I think some of the magnitude of the scale of the situation is displayed when Scabbs immediately scarpers. Kal’s immediate reaction is to try and call him back. Scabbs is out of earshot, and Kal’s laspistols aren't doing anything to the chrono-gladiator. In a last-ditch effort and one hell of a climactic scene kal dashes to a nearby power conduit, he lulls in the beast and then takes cover. Lightning wracks the gladiator and blasts him into the extremities of oblivion. Of three servo-skulls tailing the conflict, only one hasn't been removed from the conflict by stray blasts. It flies in for a close-up on Kal, and the cornered ‘hunter makes an ultimatum to his onlookers, showing he’s clearly not to be messed with. He guns down the final skull with a face mapped of pure anger.

Finally we cut back to the monitoring group. The obscured figure is revealed – a female inquisitor. Her doubtful companion mulls over the possibility that Kal may be as effective as she had speculated. The inquisitor asks that Kal be captured and brought to her, and then it is revealed to us. Look away now to avoid spoilers: “He is family, after all”.

The strengths of this episode come out right as Kal is put in the grinder. It starts off on the usual note, but by the end it’s a whole lot more than I’d bargained for. Killing Time rightly deserves 8 out of 10. It was almost as good as Nemo, but I felt that some of the cheesiness held it back a little. 

Okay, up next we have the massive Above & Beyond saga. If each part is a chapter, it’s a short story about the length of Starship Troopers. To get through the nine parts efficiently, I’ll be doing three reviews, each containing three chapters. Given my recent laxity, I need to actually read them first. Killing Time has me excited. You’ll hear from me soon. 

--Blackwire