In THE DARK AGE #6, available from Red 5 Comics on May 26, 2021, Jonah and Jonnie fight to escape execution when the King of the Cannibals’ identity is revealed.
The Details
- Written By: Don Handfield
- Art By: Leonard Rodrigues
- Colors By: Dijjo Lima
- Letters By: DC Hopkins
- Cover Art By: Nicholas Ely
- Cover Price: $3.99
- Release Date: March 26, 2021
Was It Good?
Yes, it was good, for a few reasons.
The King’s identity reveal is a “What the…?!?!” moment that was impossible to see coming. The reveal forces revelations about the relationship between Jonah and Jonnie that will either strengthen their bond or tear them apart. If you want to know which, hop down to the spoilers section below.
The “visitors” motives are now called into question when Ethen and the other leaders take a more critical look at the events that caused the dark age. Handfield smartly crafts the narrative to let the readers realize what’s going on at the same time as the characters without going through an exposition dump, so this is a big reveal issue that unfolds organically through the action and plot progression.
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The art is particularly strong in this issue. Rodrigues excels at using the characters’ eyes to express feeling to tell the story, again without a ton of exposition. Good art tells the story as much as the words, and there’s a ton of good art here.
If there’s one minor down, it’s the pacing. There’s almost too much going on in one issue, and there are so many plot points crammed into 24+ pages that you don’t get enough time to let each point breathe and sink in. That could be due to the limited number of issues, and if so, it may have helped the enjoyability to trim a C or D plot.
Overall, great art, solid writing, plenty of surprises, and tons of drama.
What’s It About?
[SPOILERS AHEAD – Click here if you just want the score without spoilers]
The King of Cannibals has declared their Blue god should spare Jonah but not Jonnie. Before she can be killed, warriors from across the river arrive by boat and kill the executioners with arrows. Ethen and Jonnie break free and shut the gate to prevent more guards from coming in.
Jonnie demands the King step away from her brother. That’s when we get the first BIG reveal. The King removes his mask and declares Jonah is really his brother. Jonah and the King are identical twins.
Jonah realizes, to his horror, that he and Jonnie aren’t blood relatives and he was found as an infant and raised as her brother. The King attacks Jonnie but before she can be seriously harmed, Jonah stabs the King from behind.
Ethen breaks free from the guards holding him and kills them with a sword. He frees his soldiers and they form a team to try and get everyone back across the bridge. As a ploy, Jonah puts on the King’s mask and clothes and pretends to be a hostage to buy the group some time and space.
Before they can make it across the bridge, Jonnie passes out from the poison spreading throughout her body. then manages to carry her across the bridge before their people blow it up and cut off the pursuing cannibals.
All this and we’re not yet at the halfway point of the issue. It’s a lot. It’s exciting, it’s engaging. But it’s a lot.
As the group stands at the water’s edge, the surface starts to bubble and one of the alien mech suits emerges. It reaches out to Jonah and implants a message in his mind. But before the message can be completed, the alien is shot through with arrows.
Within moments a larger boiling starts in the water and a giant alien ship emerges from the water. The soldiers shoot arrows at the ship, but the ship returns deadly destruction with an electrical storm that destroys every nearby ship.
Ethen and his men get the alien mech suit and Jonnie indoors to help them. When they open the mech suit, the grey alien inside tries to communicate but dies. Jonnie is weak, dying, but able to hold on for now.
Realizing a cure isn’t coming, Jonnie decides she’s going to make her remaining time count. We conclude the issue with the most unique Trojan Horse gambit you’ve ever seen.
How Does It End?
The alien mech suit is more comfortable than it looks. Love equals Hate. Cat has to let go.
Final Thoughts
THE DARK AGE #6 is filled with strong, emotional art. The story contains a small mountain of surprises and plot developments, but the page count needed to be a little bit bigger to contain everything happening and do the story justice.
Score: 8/10
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