Advance Review — ‘Blood & Thunder’ #17 Delivers Another Inconsistent Issue
by Tom Smithyman
The seesaw of inconsistency that has marked Blood & Thunder has once again swung downward.
The series just can’t seem to find consistent footing. Last issue was one of its strongest. The issue before was meh. Now in its 17th chapter, it’s again seemingly in a transition from a high point to a low one.
This time, the creative team spends nearly one-third of the issue with characters we hardly know (something we’ve seen before with poor results) all to set up a minor twist. Meanwhile, our hero Blood has been abducted along with the six sentient guns she rescued last issue. It’s Blood and her gun Thunder that we care about. Focus on her, please, instead of making her an afterthought!
As has often been the case in these more pedantic issues, artist E.J. Su has little more to do than draw talking heads. (Yes, one of them explodes, but even that is not overly detailed.) We have seen Su’s when it comes to drawing aliens and more detailed backgrounds, but little of that is present here.
Benito Cereno’s script is largely to blame. The issue’s sole purpose seems to be setting up the next planet for the bounty hunter and her AI-driven rifle to visit. On the plus side, the characters that Cereno is giving us background on now seemed poised to play a large role in the next story arc.
And give Cereno credit for injecting humor throughout the series. The highlight in this issue is when the sentient weapons argue over who gets to ride shotgun with Blood.
Writing a consistently strong story is no easy matter. It’s natural to have peaks and valleys in quality. But it’s difficult to know whether to pick up the next issue because there’s no way to know what to expect.
Blood & Thunder #17 — written by Benito Cereno, illustrated by E.J. Su, colored by Msassyk, and lettered by Rus Wooton — will be available in comic book stores and on digital platforms Wednesday from Image Comics.
Overview
This series is like a box of chocolates — you never know if you’re going to bite into it and get a peanut butter meltaway or a candy-covered turd. It’s inconsistency remains frustrating because we’ve seen how good it can be. But not in this issue.
