Danger Club #7

Written by Landry Q. Walker

Art by Eric Jones

Colored by Michael Drake

Published by Image Comics

Some of you reading this may remember Landry Q. Walker and Eric Jones’ Image title Danger Club, and some might not. That is totally understandable, as the series, which debuted in 2012, went AWOL for over a year and only returned to comic shops last month.

One of a number of new Image series that premiered around the same time, Danger Club immediately garnered a loyal following thanks to it’s over the top script and ultra-violent artwork. Five issues were published and then nothing. Due to a number of personal tragedies that had to take precedence, Walker and Jones had to place Danger Club on hiatus, all the while saying it would return at some point. Now Danger Club is back with its second issue in as many months, and while issue #7 was entertaining and a very well done comic, I’m not really sure I can describe why.

Danger Club is the story of what happened when all the world’s heroes left to fight the ultimate evil and never returned, leaving only their kid sidekicks to defend the planet. While the title started out with this fairly simple premise, recent issues have shown that Walker and Jones intend this series to be about much, much more than that.

The last two issues of Danger Club have been some of the most abstract, hold nothing back storytelling I have ever seen in a comic book series. Walker throws everything and the kitchen sink at the reader in issue #7, and while some of it works and some of it doesn’t, you can’t say he isn’t pushing the envelope of what’s possible in comics.

In the span of 24 or so pages, Walker has his characters watch as the multiverse is destroyed, then fight evil personified so that the multiverse can be reborn. It’s like speed-reading Crisis on Infinite Earths with the volume at 11 while drinking Red Bull after Red Bull. Then you have the art of Jones and colors of Michael Drake, which only add to the overall intensity of the reading experience. Jones’ hyper-detailed artwork is a pleasure on the eyes and conveys the magnitude of the story Walker is telling perfectly.

Oddly enough, though, I just don’t know if I can actually say I liked the issue. It was bold, daring and easily unlike anything else I’ve read as of late, but it was also missing something.

I think the problem for me is that I just don’t have any emotional connection to these characters. I like them and enjoy reading their adventures, but I don’t really care about them — at least not yet. Part of what makes books like Crisis on Infinite Earths or The Infinity Gauntlet so good is that I’m invested in Superman and Spider-Man and Captain America. What happens to them and their worlds is important to me. After only six issues (including a break of 15 months), what happens to the characters of Danger Club just don’t matter in the same way. Given time, I’m sure I could feel the same way about them as I feel about Rick from The Walking Dead or the Lying Cat from Saga. But at this point, I’m just not there.

The Bottom Line: Part of me thinks it may have been too early in the life of the series to do a story such as this. Another part of me is incredibly impressed that Walker and Jones went for it and pulled off something so amazing in a single issue.

I’m hooked, and will be back for Danger Club #8 if for no other reason that to see what happens next. Can’t ask for more from a comic book than that.

Note: After this review was posted, Landry Q. Walker contacted me about the circumstances of Danger Club‘s hiatus. I have changed the review to reflect that and apologize to the entire creative team for any issues this may have caused.