5 Ronin #2
Publisher: Marvel
Writer: Peter Milligan
Artist: Dalibor Talajic
Cover: Mark Brooks
“The Way of the Monk”: After the introduction of Wolverine in the last issue, we now shift over to the Hulk’s appearance in the 5 Ronin series. Or more specifically, a former warrior who is now a monk seeking a peaceful life away from war and bloodshed. This is a life that is not so easily achieved when members of a small village who know of his past seek his help in dealing with their bandit problem. He does express to them that he walks a different path now and that they need to figure out how to deal with their problem themselves. However, as time passes the monk finds that walking the path of peace instead of war is a much harder task.
Now, I’m very much on the fence with this issue mainly because I think there could have been a better choice of hero besides the Hulk to portray in this time period. Also this story is too much like Akira Kurosawa’s 7 Samurai, and with that said not too much of this issue was surprising to me. Now none of this is to say that Milligan does not craft a decent story for the reader, because someone who has not seen the movie or does not know the story may look at this issue quite differently than I did. There could also be the chance that Milligan did this as a type of homage to a classic film, and if that’s the case then that’s fine. The only thing that was unexpected is the appearance of Deadpool. He’s still not quite a sane character, but much like in the 616 Marvel Universe there is a method to his madness. Since his book is the last in the series, I see Milligan as using Deadpool as the character that is the common thread for all of the issues, so I found myself more interested in that than the monk’s actual story.
The artwork from Talajic was nice, but it was the coloring of Lee Loughridge that also helped with the visual aspect of the story. The color choices were perfect, as I noticed many of the more peaceful scenes used blues and greens while the more intense sequences were usually warm colors. Intensifying a lot of the action and making the transition of the mood towards the end that much more apparent.
With all of that said, this particular issue just wasn’t for me. However, it could also be because I have just recently watched Akira Kurosawa’s classic and didn’t want to basically read the same thing in this book. However, this hasn’t deterred me from the series since I’m still on board to see what Milligan has in store for the Punisher. So with hopes that I find something in those pages that makes it worthwhile, I’ll see you for 5 Ronin #3!
Till next time!
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