Samurai Jack is back! When fighting the evil wizard Aku, Jack was blasted into the far off future, and his quest has always been to find a way home and return to stop Aku before he can corrupt the world. Right away, Jim Zub shines a little more light on the Samurai Jack mythos with the reveal of how Aku blasted Jack into the future. This includes a ray of hope for Jack to fix the damage done and finally get back to his own time. Personally, I love the expansion on the Samurai Jack lore. The explanation is solid but not something accomplished immediately, providing room for plenty of stories and giving each issue a focus and a challenge while still having a connecting thread.
Unsurprisingly, Zub nails the tone of the Samurai Jack world. The wacky characters are in full force, with some that are funny, some that are scary, and some that are downright bizarre. In fact the one character that seemed odd to me at first is Jack. Zub struggles with how to write him at the start, and, as a fan of the cartoon, the switch from animation and a quiet Jack to a more talkative one with the occasional narration took some getting used to. At first Zub’s writing of Jack felt odd to me, but as the comic upped the stakes and Jack was given more opportunity to be terse, the character felt just right.
Jack’s characterization is supported well by Andy Suriano’s art, as Jack’s facial expression and movements tell more of the story than his dialogue ever should. Suriano perfectly captures the visual style and elements from the cartoon series. Everything from the character designs to the colored filters that pop up during action scenes feels 100% Samurai Jack. In fact, Suriano’s art is such a dead ringer for the original art that I found myself missing the soundtrack and the effects during my read. Suriano’s action scenes even captured the fluidity of motion, showing how Jack is moving in a scene clearly in a panel, making extrapolating his moves easier.
If you’re a fan of the cartoon or if you’re looking for the tale of a humble samurai with a magic sword who takes on a lot of monsters and aliens, then Samurai Jack #1 is well worth the read.
Four and a Half Butt Blasters out of Five
