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Goon1
Kareem Ali 4

The Goon: Once Upon A Hard Time #1

 

  • The good

    Goon's rampage. Intriguing situation with the town's curse manipulating Goon

  • The bad

    How the town factors into the coven's plans still not revealed

  • The ugly

    • The Goon: Once Upon A Hard Time #1 is the start of a new series written by Eric Powell that continues with Goon’s struggle against the Magpies for control over the town. It opens up with Goon breaking into Madame Elsa’s Burlesque shop and dragging Ramona’s twin sister out in her true siren form. He asks if they had to draw straws to figure out which one of them would play him but it’s a rhetorical question as he uses a cinder block to finish off the monster before she responds. He then turns his attention to Madame Elsa knowing she was involved in the plot and kills her and her assistant before finishing off most of the liquor in the shop. But it doesn’t give him any comfort because when he heads back to his headquarters he ends up ripping off one of Spider’s arms over a simple question. Franky thinks it’s just Goon acting out due to recent events, and that this is how he handles things. But the priest knows that’s part of the Coven’s plan and believes the Coven won. He states that the plan was always to break Goon because of the curse of the town and how it’s fueled by these actions. And he knows it’s important for Goon not to get lost in the despair and anger of the town. But is Goon too far gone or has the Coven just underestimated Goon like Franky believes?

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    I thoroughly enjoyed Goon’s last series, and the only problem I would’ve had with it would’ve been it ending just like that in the midst of everything getting good. Obviously this series picking up right where the last one left off would negate that problem, and I didn’t expect any less. But what’s even better than the series just continuing is the fact that it lost none of the momentum of the revelations and developments from the last one. So it was clear at the start of this issue that Goon was lost in the power and influence of the town despite his friends not knowing. This made the role of Priest more intriguing considering his actions in taking control of Fred’s spirit at the end of the last series. And his current position of helping Goon and being against the Coven creates a lot of potential for interesting developments. It’s not that Goon’s actions in fighting against the magpies couldn’t be justified, it’s that it was all part of a larger plot he was unaware of, and further the magpies’ plans. This issue wouldn’t get into that other than Priest helping Goon find more of their associates or Franky and Priest arguing about whether or not Goon was going too far. So nothing new about the town or the magpies specific plan(s) with it would be revealed. The action wouldn’t disappoint as Goon would hunt down other members of the Coven, and neither would Eric Powell’s artwork.

    The situation with Don Rigatti wouldn’t go well, of course, yet it only consisted of back and forth threats between them, and I don’t know how that will play out considering the Coven would seemingly want Goon alive for the town to feed off of him. So there’s a lot of potential going forward but in light of recent events I think it’s time for a few more answers.

     

    SUMMARY

     

    The Goon: Once Upon A Hard Time #1 is a solid start picking right up where the Occasion of Revenge left off, and it was good seeing Goon in action again. However the turn of events made the entire situation more intriguing as Goon’s actions only contribute to the magpies’ plan to fuel the town for some reason. I’m interested in seeing how Don Rigatti wanting to kill Goon will factor into everything but at this point I’m more interested in getting more answers about the importance of the town and its influence. Until then, there’s plenty of action to enjoy.

     

    Release Date: 2/4/15

    Writer: Eric Powell

    Artist: Eric Powell

  • Rating ( 8.2 )
  • Total score 8.2

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