BIG GAME #1 (OF 5)
IMAGE COMICS/Netflix
STORY: Mark Millar
ART: Pepe Larraz
COLORS: Giovanna Niro
LETTERS: Clem Robins
EDITOR: Sarah Unwin
COVER: Pepe Larraz with Giovanna Niro
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: J.G. Jones; Frank Quitely; Jae Lee with June Chung; Danny Earls
28pp, Color, $4.99 U.S. (July 2023)
Rated M / Mature
Big Game is a new five-issue comic book event miniseries from writer Mark Millar and artist Pepe Larraz. Big Game is a crossover event series that pulls together all the franchises that are part of Millar's company/imprint, “Millarworld.” That includes Kick-Ass, Kingsman, Nemesis, and The Magic Order, to name a few. Colorist Giovanna Niro and letterer Clem Robins complete the series' creative team.
Big Game #1 opens in 1986 when the super-villain conspiracy known as “the Fraternity,” defeated their superhero adversaries and erased them from the collective memory of humanity. In the present day, Wesley Gibson/The Killer (Wanted) is concerned about the reemergence of superheroes. Thus, it's time for the Fraternity to unleash its new superhero killer, Nemesis (Nemesis: Reloaded).
Meanwhile, Edison Crane (Prodigy) meets Bobbie Griffin, who unveils a past hidden even to the world's smartest man. Also meanwhile, Doctor Choon-He Chung (The Ambassadors) and her international rescue squad, The Ambassadors, run into resistance.
THE LOWDOWN: I have been receiving PDF review copies of Netflix/Millarworld's comic book titles for a few years now. Big Game #1 is the latest.
Some of Millarworld's most popular comic book franchises and series have been adapted into Hollywood feature films. They are Wanted (2008), Kick-Ass (2010), Kick-Ass 2 (2013), Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014), Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017), and The King's Man (2021). These movies are so disparate, one would be surprised to know that their source material originates from a shared universe.
But they do. In fact, this review does not mention all the Millarworld characters and references that appear in Big Game #1 If you are a fan of Mark Millar's creator-owned comic books, then, you will enjoy this first issue when it teases what is to come. However, one need not be familiar with Millarworld in order to enjoy Big Game #1. Mark is quite good a writing comic book scripts that embrace the bigness of a fictional universe. He is also able to give the readers a taste of multiple characters within a single issue in a way that leaves the readers intrigued about characters they are encountering for the first time.
Pepe Larraz's art is similar to the work of Bryan Hitch, a specialist in event comic books, and he is good at creating an air of menace, in faces of the characters and in the overall narrative. Giovanna Niro's colors serve this “dark universe” quite well, and Clem Robins' lettering is uniquely fashioned to serve the flavors of Millar's scripts.
I'm curious to see what is next. I can almost guarantee that the second issue of Big Game will blow the doorway to your imagination off its hinges, dear readers.
I READS YOU RECOMMENDS: Fans of Mark Millar and especially of his Millarworld titles will want to read Big Game.
A
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"
https://www.mrmarkmillar.com/
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