Publishers: Dark Horse Comics
Writer: Randy Stradley
Artist: Doug Wheatley
Colourist: Rain Berdero
Release date: OUT NOW!
Price: $3.99

King Tiger #1 succeeds because it does not try to do too much. It’s just a straightforward pulp adventure story: The great, powerful and wealthy hero from his secret headquarters builds a fighting group to battle serious threats to mankind. It’s Doc Savage, Secret Operator X-9 and the Shadow, remixed, re-duxed and re-rendered.

King Tiger #1 is a simple action-adventure tale of good versus evil that does not offend. A simple but logical plot is introduced: A great hero builds up his demon-buster team and hires a fighter, a new threat is revealed and the fighting pair must defend their very lives. Roll credits.

King Tiger #1 picks up after the affairs of the comic book series Blackout. Demon scourges Rikki and her boyfriend sorcerer and martial artist eponymous King Tiger have brought into their orbit fighter Milo. They just defeated a devil and Tiger sends it into the Vortex, a gateway to billions of dimensions.

Doug Wheatley’s rich art has a Ralph Reese, Paul Gulacy and Marc Schultz feel to it, meaning the thick-line shaded faces are tight and expressive and the figures are gracefully posed. Berdero’s colouring achieves a paint-like quality, blending colors and subtly applying shading.

The only complaints are the dialogue is perfunctory. Don’t look here for Buffy the Vampire Slayer-type banter. On the other hand, there are no glaring plot holes. If you want a simply plotted but gorgeous-looking graphic novel of adventure then King Tiger #1 ticks all those boxes.

Reviewer: Joe Lovece
Reviews Editor: Steve Hooker