Dark Horse Fires Off First Issue of ‘Bang!’
Looking for a break from your standard super hero tales? Tired of interdimensional villains trying to step on Earth? Dark Horse has a flavor that is off the beaten path, though not one that hasn’t been done before. Written by Matt Kindt (X-O Manowar) with artwork by Wilfredo Torres (Black Panther), we delve into a tale of espionage and cryptic novel-writing in Bang! that will throw you for a loop before you can say ‘Agent Thomas Cord’.
X-O Manowar from around 2016 to 2017 is one of my favorite titles ever. Robert Venditti was a mastermind penning much of the series. Matt Kindt’s work on it was enjoyable, but the plot felt a noticeable dip there. Perhaps I am just not a big Kindt fan, but I didn’t get any redeemable reading out of the inaugural issue of Bang! Kindt has a signature style, though I cannot put my finger on exactly what that is as it just doesn’t draw me in.
The story in Bang! gets a little trippy at times, which is certainly intended, but not my cup of tea. That’s not to say it’s not worth a read. I just feel like this is James Bond combined with aspects of the trailer of the upcoming Christopher Nolan film, Tenet. It is most definitely a tale of twists and turns. Stagnant this book is not. Nevertheless, I felt Bang! lacked a wow factor and interesting characters. There is the unique attribute contained here where the story starts and ends with a page from a novel that is written by a character within Bang!’s story.
At the end of the day, that interesting touch was a nice inclusion, just not impactful enough against the backdrop of an otherwise so-so read. For fans of the first issue, the second arrives in comic book stores on March 18th.
