The Kamandi Challenge #9 Review

Challenging Indeed

Written by: Tom King
Art by: Kevin Eastman, Freddie Williams II and Clem Robins
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: September 27, 2017

I can't say that the Kamandi Challenge has been a book that I wait for with bated breath each month, but once I jump into each issue, I do try to have fun with what's going on.  Sure, the 'challenge" part of it all has led to a bit of disjointed storytelling and seems to hinder the writers, rather than help them, but again, it's all in the spirit of fun and a little Jack Kirby worship.  So, with the hot streak that Tom King is on lately up the ante in this series as he jumps on with Kevin Eastman and Freddie Williams II?  Let's find out.


The first thing that every reader is bound to notice is the art.  It manages to be classic Eastman and Williams. all in a black and white package that may look nice after repeated viewings, but threw me off at first after the bright, vibrant colors of the previous issues.  I can't say it invokes anything "Kirby", but in the end, it is not my biggest problem with this issue.

My biggest problem is the story.  Tom King throws us into this issue with hardly anything to tie us into last issue's cliffhanger.  Yea, there is a vague mention of Kamandi being swallowed and waking up in this...whatever and wherever they are, but that's it.  The whole fun of this series is for the writer to work his way out of the previous cliffhanger and towards his own challenge for the one following him or her.  With that is mind, this issue is an epic fail!  This issue could easily be inserted anywhere in this series and only a word or two would be needed to make it fit.  That's not what this is about!

As for the actual story, Tom King gives us a repeated situation (with his now patented repeating dialogue) that borrows from Animal Farm (for the cultured) and Sausage Party (for the rest of us) and ends with a fourth wall breaking ambiguous ending that doesn't leave much for the next writer to work with.

The best thing I can say about this issue is that under different circumstances, it might work as a one-shot dealing with the idea of servitude, the afterlife or even the Stockholm Syndrome.  However, as a cog in the Kamandi Challenge machine, it derails the story and personally makes me want to give up on the series and just walk away for good.  I just might do that.



Bits and Pieces:

Tom King gives readers a one-shot story in the middle of a continued and connected series and pretty much knocks it off the rails.  This issue has totally killed what little enthusiasm I had for the Kamandi Challenge and comes off as a Tom King showcase rather than a part of an interwoven series.

5.5/10