Reviews»Comic Books»King Tiger #1
kingtiger1
Kareem Ali 4

King Tiger #1

 

  • The good

    Story progresses nicely setting up an intriguing story arc. Character development makes for interesting characters. Artwork

  • The bad

    Introduction to King Tiger's current arrangements seem hurried in terms of showing everything he has. No taste of his powers this issue

  • The ugly

    • King Tiger #1 is the start of a new series written by Randy Stradley and published by Dark Horse Comics about a mystic warrior whose past comes back to haunt him as he must defeat an entity known as the Dragon. This issue opens up in Nevada where a lone woman walking in a casino’s parking lot is suddenly kidnapped by 3 men and thrown into a van. They discuss during the ride how easy it was for them to snatch her and contemplate trying to reach some kind of quota that night instead of waiting. When they arrive they tell their boss that they only need 3 more people to reach 20 but instead of sending them back out the 3 kidnappers are captured and thrown into the shipping container with the other 17 people they captured. But this isn’t being done as part of a slave trade but a secret ritual that requires sacrifices. This is all somehow connected to King Tiger, who is currently in the process of training his new assistant Milo. Milo proved himself useful and saved King Tiger from the demon that was attached to Milo without his knowledge. And since King Tiger can’t fight all the endless demons by himself it’s important that Milo becomes more familiar with the different tools of the trade. But with a threat looming over King Tiger that will be his toughest to date, will Milo be able to aid him against this terrifying group?

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    King Tiger was that one bright spot in the Blackout series, and it appeared as just a short story at the back of each Blackout issue. I would recommend reading those to get some backstory on Milo becoming King Tiger’s assistant but only if it was released as a standalone. So this issue picks up right from that point with Milo learning a little about King Tiger’s life and how King met his girlfriend, Rikki, and turned his life around. The way his current situation was shown felt slightly hurried with the convenient inheritance that provides an endless source of funds to finance his line of work. It’s not as if that was the most interesting thing about his current situation so I’m not sure why that was thrown in at the time but the character development during this time was actually interesting, and a good job was done in detailing the aspects of his life except his mystic powers or acquisition of any of his mystical items. But I appreciated how the tone of the series was set from the beginning with the kidnappings orchestrated by this mysterious group along with the events being narrated by one with a manipulative view of the human condition and the tendency for hope. It was wonderfully written, and the events reeked of a sinister goal long in the making with the potential to create an engrossing tale. Not much was revealed about this group but this scenario, and the exchange between the group and some of the hostages, did the most to pull me in deeper in this world.  And that’s because even a hint of King Tiger’s abilities wasn’t shown so if I was completely unfamiliar with the character I would be wondering exactly what he could do, especially considering Milo’s role so far. And with Doug Wheatley’s artwork and the wonderful images at the end of this issue I was really looking forward to seeing King Tiger’s powers to some extent again. However, the exciting conclusion to this issue almost guarantees that’ll be the case next issue.

     

    SUMMARY

     

    King Tiger #1 is an excellent start to the series setting up an engrossing situation where the villains are as intriguing as the mystery behind their plot. A great job is done in laying this out due to the excellent writing in the form of one of the villain’s narrating these events. And the character development is solid with King Tiger, Rikki and Milo, although the lack of King Tiger’s powers being used even once this issue does stand out. But I’ve been waiting for this series since the character was introduced in Blackout, and it’s well worth the wait so far.

     

    Release Date: 8/12/15

    Writer: Randy Stradley

    Artist: Doug Wheatley

  • Rating ( 8 )
  • Total score 8.0

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