GtPGKogPYT4p61R1biicqBXsUzo" /> Google+ Comic Review: The Saviors Issues #1-#5 from Image Comics | I Smell Sheep

Sunday, September 28, 2014

Comic Review: The Saviors Issues #1-#5 from Image Comics



The Saviors #1-#5
Story By: James Robinson
Art By: J. Bone
Cover By: J. Bone
Cover Price: $2.99
Digital Price: $1.99
Eisner Award winner JAMES ROBINSON (Starman, Earth 2) and artist extraordinaire J. BONE (The Rocketeer: Hollywood Horror, The Spirit) present an all-new saga of monstrous alien horror.

When Tomas Ramirez stumbles upon an extraterrestrial conspiracy to take over the world, his life is changed forever. He must now seek out those few souls who share this terrible knowledge. But even united, how can they hope to defeat a shadowy alien cabal that is both indestructible and eager to kill anyone who threatens it?


A stoner versus an alien invasion. Advantage: aliens. I mean, c'mon ... he's stoned. How big of a threat could he be?

Well, for one thing, Tomas Ramirez is a hard little stoner to kill after he inadvertently finds out the sheriff of his hometown in the desert is actually an alien in disguise. It's not like Tomas was looking for a whole lot of excitement in his life. Things were steady with his job at the gas station, getting high as he pleased, and generally coasting through life. But he just had to ruin all that by stumbling upon a covert alien invasion. Way to go, Tomas.

Think Men in Black meets Up in Smoke.

The humor is plentiful, as is the action. Actually, it's the action that really takes over for this series. Five issues in and Tomas has had his entire worldview upended and lost count of the number of times one alien or another has come within a whisker of taking him out. But if it was just Tomas in this struggle against the grand alien conspiracy, he wouldn't stand a chance. Which is why his luck hits an all-time high when he falls in with a rag-tag group from around the world who have banded together to find a way to stop the takeover of Earth. And you just had to know Tomas would play a key in that.

There is a very cool vibe to the series that reminds me of those old sci-fi serials that ran in 15-minute stretches and always--always--ended on some perilous cliffhanger. The Saviors taps into that urgent, always-on-the-run pace with increasing clues and intrigue relating to Tomas' role in the resistance.

If there is a hangup it is that the series that far has hinged exclusively on Tomas as a viewpoint character with no breathing room for any other characters. The aliens, in fact, remain a very mysterious and ill-defined aspect of the series. We're afforded bits and pieces, but in the five-issue run there is still a great deal that needs to be explained about the aliens and their motivations and their methods.

I guess all of that will be left up to the next five issues. It should be interesting.


4 Sheep





Gef Fox

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