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Tuesday, August 22, 2023

Comics Review: "BIG GAME #2" - Nemesis Drops a Double-Nickel Game

BIG GAME #2 (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: Leinil Yu with Sunny Gho; Pepe Larraz
28pp, Color, $4.99 U.S. (August 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 is a sequel to the first Millarworld comic book miniseries, Wanted (2003-04).  The stars of that series, The Fraternity, the super-villains that secretly rule the world, defeated their superhero adversaries in 1986.  Now, this entity is concerned about the reemergence of superheroes, so it unleashes it new superhero killer, Nemesis (from Nemesis: Reloaded), on a hero assassination spree.

As Big Game #2 opens, Edison Crane (Prodigy) and Bobbie Griffin meet the Chrononauts, Corbin Quinn and Danny Reilly.  Crane, the world's smartest man, wants the duo to take him and Griffin back in time to 1986 for proof of that what Griffin says is true.  Superheroes did exist in the past.

Meanwhile, Doctor Choon-He Chung (The Ambassadors) and her international rescue squad, The Ambassadors, search for a missing Ambassador.  Plus, two early Millarworld favorites are forced together on new comics day.

THE LOWDOWN:  I have been receiving PDF review copies of Netflix/Millarworld's comic book titles since late 2021.  Big Game #2 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 that you, dear readers, would be surprised to know that their source material originates from a shared universe.

As a longtime Millarworld fan, it is both terrifying and thrilling to read Big Game, especially because Nemesis is on the prowl and is killing some of my favorite Millarworld good guys and anti-heroes.  Writer Mark Millar is having himself quite a bit of fun by tearing things apart, but the smart Millarworld readers (Is there any other kind?) know that Mark has shocks and surprises in store for us.  Plus, :nothing is really what it appears at first” is a truism in every one of Millar's comic book series.

Pepe Larraz's art is similar to the work of Bryan Hitch, a specialist in event comic books, and Larraz's storytelling style certainly suggests that this is truly a BIG event.  He is also good at creating an air of menace, suggested in the 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 amplify the soundtrack of Millar's scripts.

Big Game #1 had me curious to see what was next.  After reading that first issue, I almost guaranteed that the second issue of Big Game would blow the doorway to your imagination off its hinges, dear readers.  My hinges gave out.

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/
https://twitter.com/ImageComics
https://twitter.com/mrmarkmillar
https://twitter.com/netflix
https://twitter.com/themagicorder
http://www.millarworld.tv/
www.imagecomics.com


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