Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers #1 and #2
Written by Joe Casey
Illustrated by Nathan Fox, Jim Rugg, Ulises Farinas and Michel Fiffe
Colors by Brad Simpson
Letters by Simon Bowland
Dynamite Entertainment
Written by Joe Casey
Illustrated by Nathan Fox, Jim Rugg, Ulises Farinas and Michel Fiffe
Colors by Brad Simpson
Letters by Simon Bowland
Dynamite Entertainment
Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers is the mind-blowing, crazy science fiction, creative reinterpretation of a late-era Jack Kirby comic that you didn't know you needed. Joe Casey and a first-rate artistic team have, in the first two issues of the book, crafted a weird, visually stunning, highly compelling story. Without hewing too close to Kirby's style, this book is a great homage to Kirby's big, adventurous spirit.
The story begins in space as the Dreadnought: Tiger is under attack by the fearsome Mekkanos (who are themselves controlled by a figure called Blackmass). The Dreadnought is led by Captain Victory, of the Galactic Rangers. Ranger captains are so important that their bodies are cloned so that if one of them should fall in battle, their consciousness can be immediately transferred to a new body. This is dramatically illustrated by a flashback showing when Major Klavus (Victory's second in command) kills Captain Victory in order to initiate the very first mind transfer (talk about a rough day - "what'd you do today, honey?" "I died").
The second issue follows the remaining crew of the Dreadnought: Tiger as they attempt to piece together what happened to the clone bodies, and where the jettisoned clones actually went. Young Captain Victory (who has taken to calling himself "Victor") has made some new friends, and runs afoul of a local gang known as the Drones. Meanwhile, scarred, damaged Captain Victory went into a bar, beat the hell out of a bunch of aliens there, and appears to be scavenging parts to build something. All the while, he's bring followed by two chatty aliens (who look a little like Jawas from Star Wars) who're trying to figure out what this guy is doing.
This comic pays worthy tribute to Kirby's skill as a visual storyteller with the work of four diverse, dynamic artists. Nathan Fox handles the majority of the art in each issue, and he has an incredibly exciting, expressive art style, such as is shown in this dramatic two-page spread, where Fox sets the dramatic sight of a starship under attack with the words of destruction (FIRE, KILL, etc.) and shows other scenes of violence and battle taking place within the sequence. The colors from Brad Simpson are explosively bright, and really help to convey the crazy, alien, sci-fi nature of the story.
Casey has taken an interesting approach in helping the reader get to know Captain Victory. After only the first few pages of the first issue, the mature, adult Captain Victory doesn't exist at all, except in flashback. What we have instead are two completely different clones whose activities we follow - one, while damaged, is attempting to piece his life together and achieve answers (while speaking an inexplicable language). The other clone, young Victor, has shown an instinct towards justice and standing up to bullies, but he's just a kid, and not necessarily in possession of great foresight. Through these flawed clones we begin to get an insight into who Victory is, which is capably aided by the flashbacks. But the ostensible protagonist is not truly himself, and not at his best. So Casey has turned the focus on the crew of the Dreadnought: Tiger, and on the friends, mentors and strange followers that the two clones have picked up. As these characters attempt to solve the mysteries surrounding what happened to Captain Victory (or who he is), the reader will unravel these mysteries as well.
For a dramatic, surprising, explosively fun sci-fi comic, Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers is well worth a look.