Anthology Week: John Wick Prequel Comic Review

[00:00:06] It's a JackedUpReviewShow Here we are to talk about another giant movie and now a TV franchise. That is the John Wick universe. What's very interesting about this is just how it's always been built upon. It's been an

[00:01:05] unexpected success. People are trying to replicate it, but I think what holds it through and through is just how people love the whole just original crime underworld. It's a mixture of both dark comedy, you know, mixed in with martial arts action as well as neo-noir kind of

[00:01:26] crime and style. And beneath the style just seeing just all the characters just kind of speaking for one another, these violent warriors with a coat of honor and unofficial off the grid, you know, hitman division and you know just seeing all these producers who chimed in on it,

[00:01:45] who have made something of it, who made it larger than life. It's just given Tarantino a run for his money now. And so in between the second and the third movie, in between 2017 to 2019 they decided to do a prequel comic book for Dynamite Comics who's had

[00:02:04] their fair share of original as well as material based off comics and crossovers as well as movie and TV show spinoffs. And this one of course brings us back as Keanu Reeves in the titular role like they're totally using his persona and just explores his character, how he

[00:02:27] fled from a village at a young age and he goes after this violent Texas gang. We'll get to them in a minute. When just seeing these previews and people talking about it, I was wondering who is this female assassin he's fighting? Is that Adriana Palicki's character Miss Perkins

[00:02:43] earlier episode where they fight? No, it's someone totally different. The only other character from the movies is Chiron, the hotel manager of the hitman division called the Continental. And yeah, they're totally using you know, Lensoretic as leftist but they totally use this

[00:03:02] persona here. I'm not sure if they paid him or not, but whatever. But all together, I mean, I think this comic works just as well as the various movies it's based off because it's doing its own thing. It's got its own voice

[00:03:24] still here instead of trying to again emulate something like the Punisher Judge Dredd, you know. It's got plenty of satirical moments, but it's not the same as trying to be like again, you know, just all the other vigilantes and it's never been one dimensional.

[00:03:49] It has been over the top and it's not something I would say is the best movie all time, but for a genre movie, it's definitely a solid action outing. And I would actually like to see more of these

[00:03:59] comics because I think this just did so much good. And but all together, it's just the colors on this are nice. It's a five issue series. They don't really entirely explain why Wix, you know,

[00:04:21] name is Jardani, Javonovich, but that they show again just how he gets into this freelancing. He saves a cat from trouble. So that's a nice irony. He was saving pets before he, you know,

[00:04:37] was avenging the death of his dog in the movies. And it illustrates how he masters the so-called book of rules that, you know, what the assassins do and don't. And of course, I don't even know

[00:04:50] why they introduced these rules because almost all the villains he faces off with break the rules. It's kind of like Highlander, where it's what's the point? No one's ever going to follow it. So

[00:05:02] Maria is a adjudicator of the high table called a council, whatever it is. That's where the hitman enlist the contractors enlist all the hitmen and so comics two and three are where they mainly illustrate this. I didn't find these all that interesting. This was only getter though,

[00:05:25] still pretty bristial log, pretty to the point, clearly by a movie fan. The writer of this comic is Greg Pack who's done Hulk, X-Men, Thor and Star Wars comics and the main villainess I would say

[00:05:44] is Calamity. She's a assassin who's escaped an insane asylum. It's so stupid. They try to even give her her guns back and of course she just it's all a fad. She's been waiting to break out

[00:05:59] a few months later and kill them all. She works for this outlaw team in El Paso, Texas. Yep, you heard that right. They're called the free bills, Pecos, Buffalo and Billy. Get it? Yeah, they're all inspired by all those infamous outlaws and so this always kept my attention.

[00:06:22] It didn't drag for a minute. It's gonna appeal to those just seeking just a violent narrative if they haven't seen any of the movies. You don't need to know anything about this other than it's

[00:06:32] just a you know anti-hero being the underdog and getting rid of all these outlaws fighting fire with fire. I like how they first introduce him where he's just he likes you know quiet time to

[00:06:47] himself. Giovanni of Aleta's artwork is just gorgeous, just as gorgeous as the movies themselves you know which are beloved for their cinematography and that colorful you know night time look

[00:07:04] and I love how he's just he stops these guys who are being assholes at a you know 24 hour restaurant and he's just there to follow them and of course he uses a pillow to just cushion his fall through

[00:07:23] a window next door and just ambush them all. I love how the each bit of the original artwork created for this foreshadows the carnage that's about to come later on and it's a quick and easy

[00:07:41] read. It's not something you guys spend crazy bucks on but if you you know can find it online or at your own comic book store give it a look you won't regret it and I would like to see again

[00:07:57] more of these comic books outlining his history and maybe even one-offs hell if they want to do a versus match or crossover with another universe bring it on because it's a fun read and it just

[00:08:12] again it goes by so fast some of the stuff a little over the top and I don't mean that and that's filing is just that the villains they're just really kind of pushing them just reminding

[00:08:23] you hey you gotta hate these pricks but I felt that was a little heavy-handed but that's my that's a minor complaint and otherwise pretty solid thing I like how again they remind us on

[00:08:35] how he's wick is a man a few words but says a lot with just even grunts and just looking around at the colorful people that he's gonna have to dispatch there's no graphic language like the

[00:08:49] movies sometimes interject but there is some occasional gory violence as you would have it but I also like how it's a little suspenseful without even showing a lot but you think you're

[00:08:59] seeing more than you actually are I don't know why they kind of spread it out as long as they did but I guess they were just saving it for the occasion looking at the cells but

[00:09:13] yeah I would like to see a little more in the future maybe just more current or maybe even just other crime underworlds kind of like they're doing with the continental show just illustrate that whole backdrop instead of just having us you know buy the movies on Blu-ray

[00:09:31] or doing TV marathons I think they could actually expand the universe a little more just because it's so over the top they do imply that he's out of prison but they don't show much

[00:09:42] of that I would like to see what his life was like in prison or even more just like have him travel the globe go to all these other outrageous you know towns in various well-known you know existing

[00:09:57] cities and there's a lot of other stuff they could experiment with but other than that just everybody did their job really well and I think you can also get it as a complete graphic novel

[00:10:12] if you don't want to collect all five issues separately but once again just solid all around got very few complaints and again there you really can't go wrong here if you're a work completist you're going to get some fun stuff it's not going to be like

[00:10:29] you know the most amazing mele eight but it is still going to be some solid substance and you'll just love again how it made use of echoing the movie style while being kind of its own

[00:10:42] just really hitting home on what a graphic novel can do I don't think this side story would work as an episode of TV or a standalone movie but that's okay it's still making use of a graphic novels

[00:10:56] medium form and building on it from there but everybody check it out if you can and it's just simply called the Jean Wick you know comic by dynamite entertainment but pick this prequel up and eat it up we'll return after these messages if you like small town mystery

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