Story-Christopher Priest, Tyler Mane & Renae Geerlings(Inspired by the novel THE LAST SPARTAN by John F. Saunders
Writer-Christopher Priest
Artists-Will Conrad, Jimbo Salgado & Michael Motenat
Colorists-Omi Remalante Jr. & Nanjan Jamberi
I haven’t done one of these in a while. Mostly because I haven’t had the time to set aside for it. But when I was approached by someone I know in PR about a new Christopher Priest comic I jumped at the opportunity to. For most of the comics world I don’t need to introduce Christopher Priest, if you don’t know him please google his work and enjoy, so I won’t go down that rabbit hole here.
I will though tell this quick story as my lead in to this review. When I was in my late teens and no longer inside the world of comics I was brought back by my love of zombie fiction. I found many weird and awesome comics, top among them was the Walking Dead. Through some people I had met while working at a local diner I then was told that I should check out some of the Marvel Knights books that I had never read, mostly because I was a giant Kevin Smith fan. So I picked up his Daredevil run and fell in love. I then read some other work inside that banner and quickly found Priest’s Black Panther run. That was the moment that I started to pick up who was making these comics, and going to find more work from these people. So you could say that Priest is the writer that sparked my love for the creators and not just the genre or characters.
Now for his newest title The Last Spartan: Red Tape from Mane Entertainment. This is a title that was funded on Kickstarter a few years back and is now coming to the direct market. When I first saw the back cover they say it is for people that like Sons of Anarchy, Taken and the Punisher. Those are all properties that I enjoy, Sons of Anarchy being one of my favorite tv series ever. But I feel that those comparisons are empty in many ways. So lets go a little deeper, without spoiling too much.
At it’s core this graphic novel is about a man who is lost after his time serving his country abroad. After he comes home he has trouble fitting into the “real” world and instead joins a group of friends in an outlaw biker gang. Things go tragically wrong and he is force to spend time behind bars. Now outside of prison, our lead character Frank, is trying to live a crime free life but a friend’s daughter is kidnapped and he is forced to go back toward his past life to save her. If I had to pick one of the comparisons from earlier that best fits the story it is the movie Taken.
Where I find the most interest in the story is that Frank has made a pact to himself that he doesn’t want to kill anyone while finishing this job. This minor line of dialogue that we get early on really drives that story in ways that you wouldn’t expect multiple time. I mean some of the story beats would be quicker and easier if Frank just shot someone and moved on, which is why the Punisher comparison doesn’t stick with me. Without going too deep the arc of this story not only brings things full circle in a masterful way but also give Frank just enough growth to be the hero in this volume, and hopefully future ones. The way foreshadowing is used in this story is simply put top tier. For any prospective writers out there read and this a see exactly how and why you need to outline your story arcs before finishing a single script.
When it comes to art in my comics series I am a fan of one artist per story. By that I mean sometimes in mainstream comics the need to fulfill the one issue a month, sometimes more, mantra gets in the way of what’s best for the comic. So going into this graphic novel I found it strange that the three chapters of the story are drawn by different artists. A lot of times when reading comic series or graphic novels like this that can be a distraction to the overall story. With the Last Spartan I didn’t have that issue. I felt that all three artist, and the multiple colorist, did a good job not making things jarring on the readers. Each team had their own style that fit inside the part of the story they were trying to tell while also crafting the world in their own way. Most importantly for me I never had to do a double take to see which character was which from chapter to chapter.
Overall I thought that The Last Spartan: Red Tape is a very good comic. After finishing this graphic novel it left me a feeling of wanting more. It had a great cliffhanger, quality artwork, and a compelling story with a message. For fans of Priest’s previous work you will get the type of story we have come to expect from him both in quality and in style. Make sure to ask your local comic shop to order you a copy!
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Hell yeah dude!