Comic Reviews: Five Weapons #5 by Jimmie Robinson

Five Weapons #5 (of 5)

by Jimmie Robinson
Published: July 3, 2013
By: Jimmie Robinson
Image Comics

Tyler’s life hangs in the balance between a master assassin, saving his parents, and the wrath of the school principal. This could be the biggest caper ever pulled off, or the end of the world at the School of Five Weapons.

The first three issues of Five Weapons had a great episodic vibe that almost felt like a Saturday morning cartoon, with the hero pulling off one clever escape after another that led into an enticing cliffhanger. Each of those issues saw Enrique Garcia posing as his childhood friend and the son of a highly revered assassin, Tyler Shainline, and navigating the adversarial climate of the school. He maintained his ruse while making friends and overcoming the odds to defeat star pupils in specialized challenges--and all without the use of a single weapon. And for a school designed to train assassins, it's all about the weapons.

Then the fourth issue introduced a new character, Vera, and sent the storyline madly off into left field. Where it had originally looked like Enrique had come to the school to aide the Shainline family in some mission, while keeping his promise to his father to not use any weapons, it became pretty clear Enrique was more of a pawn than anything else.

Vera, while an intriguing new wrinkle in Enrique's life, there was simply nothing I recall from the three previous issues to foreshadow her arrival. Oh, some veiled back-and-forth between Principal O and the school nurse, but nothing that seemed to serve the main plot of the series. This fifth and final issue answered all the remaining questions raised, but it all felt like a huge info dump in the end.

A bright spot, and a welcome diversion, was the insane fight scene in the middle of the book when Vera, the once prodigious student returned as a embittered adult, challenged the entire school in order to get to Enrique and find out where the Shainline family has gone.

The charm of the series had worn off with me though, so the epic finale fell a bit flat. For readers more in tune with how the story has progressed to this point, you won't be nearly as let down, I'll wager. If you're like me, however, you might not be in such a hurry to revisit the series should it start again with the teaser on the final page.

review: Five Weapons #1

review: Five Weapons #2
review: Five Weapons #3

review: Five Weapons #4

3 Sheep

Guest Reviewer: Gef Fox

Wag The Fox: a den for dark fiction

Comic Review: Five Weapons #4 (of 5)

Five Weapons #4 of 5 
By: Jimmie Robinson 
Image Comics 
On Sale: May 29, 2013

Impersonating Tyler Shainline is becoming quite hazardous for Enrique. He's not really cut out for the whole assassin thing, but he's faked his way through the school of Five Weapons remarkably well so far. Trouble is, the longer he is there, the more enemies he acquires as Shainline, and the more determined they are in seeing Master Shainline's downfall.

The fourth issue picks up at the end of a target retrieval competition, one that was stacked against Shainline from the get-go, pitting him against his new friend, Loon. With his guile and wit, he manages to avoid defeat--and even death--but the powers that be inside the school, namely Principal O, have had enough of the upstart student. Wheels are in motion to take him down once and for all.

I was wondering when the other shoe would drop in this mini-series. The motivations for Enrique's subterfuge had yet to be laid out for readers, but the cat is out of the bag now, and it seems there is a new player in the fray, an assassin with connections to the Shainline family and members of Five Weapons' faculty. It's a cool twist that is not just out of the blue, but raises a whole slew of questions about what all is going on at Five Weapons. The trouble is that there is only one issue left, and I have a gut feeling that the big finale is going to be a crowded house of revelations and resolutions.

I'm very much on board with this series, but the fact that there is so much that needs to be answered, and there's only one issue left in which to answer them, I'm a little perplexed at how Jimmie Robinson is going to pull it off. Bully for him if he can do it. Bring on Five Weapons #5.

4 Sheep
Guest Reviewer: Gef Fox 

Comic Review: Five Weapons #3 of 5 by Jimmie Robinson

Five Weapons #3 of 5 by Jimmie Robinson

By:Jimmie Robinson
Price:$3.50

Diamond ID:FEB130444

On Sale:April 24, 2013

Series:Five Weapons

At the annual school festival, Tyler is caught in a battle between the Archery club and the Exotic weapons club, but a new threat emerges from outside the school that could blow his cover and ruin everything

Since the main character, Enrique Garcia, is posing quite effectively as his best friend, Tyler Shainline, while attending the Five Weapons School, I'm just going to refer to him as Shainline. It's ... just easier that way.

Anyway, Five Weapons #2 left off with Shainline challenging the biggest bully on campus (figuratively speaking), Rick the Stick, leader of the Staff Club. And just like he did with the Knife Club's president, Jade the Blade, Shainline handily wins the challenge without the aid of a weapon of his own. But by doing so, he's further drawn the ire of the school's faculty, led by Principal O.

At this point in the series, the middle-grade vibe has basically taken over, with action and dialogue that feels perfectly suited for a Saturday morning cartoon. He's making friends, has a crush on the cute knife-wielding girl, and his enemies are shaking their fists in anger. No one, however, has discovered his true identity though, and that may be at risk when Joon the Loon is tasked with spying on him to learn his weakness.

The cleverness of the series has reached a peak with me at this point, and Shainline's evasiveness and demeanor is starting to come off as smarmy when interacting with his opponents. At least he retains likability during the breaks between action scenes, bantering with his new friends. Where the apt pupil schtick is running a little thin, the intrigue and suspense involving Shainline being found out, and even potentially defeated, is building nicely. And that helps to keep me interested in the rest of the series.

Still not sure why he is attending the school under false pretenses, so I'm hoping the fourth issue clears that up.

review issue #1

review issue #2

3 1/2 Sheep

Guest Reviewer: Gef Fox

Wag The Fox: a den for dark fiction

Comic Review: Five Weapons #2 of 5 by Jimmie Robinson

Five Weapons #2 of 5
by Jimmie Robinson
Price:$3.50
Diamond ID:JAN130585
On Sale:March 27, 2013
Series:Five Weapons
Image Comics

Tyler barely escapes the knife club only to become the target of both the stick club and every teacher in the school of Five Weapons. This time the faculty plans to beat Tyler at his own game and embarrass him in front of the whole school.

The latest series from fan-favorite creator, Jimmie Robinson!

Oh, that Jimmie Robinson is a clever one.

At the end of the first issue, I really had to wonder how Tyler Shainline (or rather Enrique Bryant Garcia posing as his childhood friend) would survive a duel with Jade the Blade, president of the Knife Club. I would not have guess tickling, but it certainly does the trick by the third page of this second issue.

Enrique's reason for posing as Tyler, the son of a revered assassin, has yet to be explained, but his methods while attending Five Weapons are certainly entertaining. But while the boy cannily avoids picking up a weapon of his own, out of some secret oath to his father (the faithful servant of the Shainline family), he is incurring the ire of Principal O and the faculty with his precociousness and guile.

While reading the first issue, I worried a little that the premise of schoolchildren fighting each other with weapons might veer into some sensitive subject matter (considering the crisis of school violence in America), but Five Weapons #2 has cemented the charm and otherworldliness that Jimmie Robinson's creation stands to offer.

Enrique's story has unfolded quite neatly and expertly at this point, nearly collapsing under the weight of how darned clever it is. It feels like a cross between a kung fu flick and a Saturday morning cartoon at times, but that's hardly a bad thing. And the cliffhanger at the end of this issue has me eager to see how Enrique will get out of his next battle.
Five Weapons #1 review

4 Sheep

Guest Reviewer: Gef Fox

Wag The Fox: a den for dark fiction

Comic Review: Five Weapons #1 by Jimmie Robinson

Five Weapons #1 (of 5) by Jimmie Robinson 
Price: $3.50

Diamond ID: DEC120508

On Sale: February 27, 2013

Series: Five Weapons

Image Comics

13-year-old Tyler finds himself in a specialized school where assassins send their kids for education and training in one of the five deadly weapons. Tyler doesn't have a weapon or any fighting skills, but he still plans to graduate by beating every weapon master in the school because he has a powerful ability that nobody can match: his razor-sharp mind! JIMMIE ROBINSON twists the insanity of BOMB QUEEN in a fun new series that will keep you guessing to the end. This series is rated T for Teen!

School would be scary enough with just one kid walking around wielding a weapon, but in Jimmie Robinson's Five Weapons, the only kid not walking around with a weapon is his protagonist.

Introduced as the son of a notorious assassin, Tyler Shainline, arrives on the campus of the School of Five Weapons to follow in the family tradition of ... well ... assassinating fools. After being welcomed by the prim and perplexing Principal O, Tyler is told he has until the end of the day to choose which of the five weapons he will choose as his specialty. But Tyler, for whatever reason, seems reluctant to choose any weapon at all.

The five kinds of weapons are knives, archery, staves, exotic weapons (which is still a bit murky by way of specifics), and even guns--now there's a hot button issue if ever there was one. Students are grouped together like a well-armed version of Hogwarts, replete with school uniforms that include bulls-eyes on their chests. Lovely.

At first glance, this whole setup might seem like a complete exploitative approach to kids and violence, but the story is far more clever than that, especially in Tyler's backstory and motivations. While the reasons why he's averse to weapons isn't explicitly stated, there are clues, and his methods of maintaining his unarmed status is quite charming. Throw in the pseudo-manga artwork, snappy dialogue, and bizarre supporting cast, and this series has a heckuva lot of potential.

4 Sheep

Guest Reviewer: Gef Fox

Wag The Fox: a den for dark fiction