Advance Review: It’s One Long Prison Break In ‘Blood & Thunder’ #14

You knew it wasn’t going to last for long.

When bounty hunter-turned-fugitive Blood was arrested and thrown into prison, you knew she wouldn’t be a prisoner for long. It took all of an issue for her to escape from what is supposed to be the most secure jail in the galaxy.

Told through flashbacks from a conversation between a guard and the police chief, Blood & Thunder #14 relates how Blood was able to get away. If that seems like a thin premise to base an entire issue on, don’t worry too much. It’s fairly entertaining and obviously has plenty of action thanks to Benito Cereno‘s script and E.J. Su‘s illustrations.

Su arguably has the easier job — or at least the more entertaining — since everything since there is plenty to depict here. Juxtaposed against the static conversation between the chief and the guard are Blood’s antics, which involve plenty of kicking, punching, blasting, and even a high dive. Su’s scenes are easy to understand, even when the heroine is talking on several guards.

Credit Cereno for the storytelling approach. The approach is familiar but still works, even if it occasionally feels a little forced. He’s tried something different here and deserves credit for it. Still, you only get one of these, so now it’s time for something else new.

The only real concern here is that the series found new creative energy in the last issue by confining Blood. Now that she has escaped, will that momentum carry into future chapters, or was this uptick just a fluke. Oh well, that’s a worry for another chapter. This was entertaining enough.

Blood & Thunder #14 — written by Benito Cereno, illustrated by E.J. Su, colored by Msassyk, and lettered by Rus Wooton — will be available Wednesday in comic book stores and on digital platforms from Image Comics.