Comic Review: Murder Falcon #6

Murder Falcon #6

Image Comics

Writer & Artist: Daniel Warren Johnson

I like to tell people not to judge a book by its cover, but sometimes I totally judge books by their covers. “Murder Falcon? That sounds dumb…” and then we flash forward to today and Murder Falcon is one of my favorite new comics. Everybody’s a hypocrite sometimes.

Jake is chosen by Murder Falcon to help fight aliens and their leader Magnum Khaos from invading the Earth. Using instruments to summon spirits from “The Heavy” Jake and his band Brooticus set out to defeat Magnum Khaos with the power of metal. In this issue, Brooticus gains a new bandmate, Hjelmdar, a Swedish man who can also summon a spirit from The Heavy. Together, the band travels to Japan in search of The Horn of the Dead but instead are attacked by Magnum Khaos.

For a story as ridiculous sounding, as this one is, there’s also been a surprising amount of touching moments. Jake pushed everyone in his life away, including his wife, Anne. In this issue we see Anne and Hjeldar open up about their pasts to each other. It nails some of the feelings I think most people go through when a family member or loved one goes through the battle with cancer or any other serious medical condition. And then that’s sandwiched between spirits of metal fighting giant alien monsters. It’s pretty rad.

The art in this book is great and is a perfect match for the story. That’s kind of easy for the comic though since Daniel Warren Johnson is pulling double duty as writer and artist. The designs for the characters are all pretty accurate to what I imagine when I think of that 1980s kind of metal style. For a story that brings up a lot of emotional things, the characters accurately show those emotions as well. And on top of all of that, in this issue, a giant wolf rips an alien to shreds with a scream, and I think that’s where the art and coloring (by Mike Spicer) combine in the best way in the whole issue.

This comic is tons of fun, with a serving of feelings in the middle. IF there’s one problem I have with this issue, it’s that the ending repeats the last issue. Another musician who can summon a spirit of metal shows up to help the band. It’s not a dealbreaker but, like this sentence, it’s repeating something we’ve seen already. Other than that, this is a good issue. There are good characters and plot development. The art is great and has great action. Even if you’re not a fan of metal, this is a comic book you should be reading.