Afternoon folks, it’s time for a long overdue review by me and this one is on Image comics newly released short series by Sina Grace and Daniel Freedman titled Burn The Orphanage.

Before I start though lets have a show of hands, who’s all played any of the Streets of Rage games? (if you haven’t, your childhood seriously lacked some awesome) loved them? (answer better be aye by the way) well this book is basically Streets of Rage and yes, It’s freakin awesome!

The story follows our hero Rock who was left for dead as a child when the orphanage he grew up in was burned to the ground, now he’s grown up and out for revenge.

The character instantly reeks of fond nostalgia and his look is clearly influenced by Axl (main dude in streets of rage) from the popular megadrive series and there’s not a lot of panels in the book that don’t feature him punching goons in the face.

Aiding him in his quest for vengeance is Lex, a hot ass-kicking chick and Bear, a hulking gay man with the LITERAL heart of a bear beating in his chest. Together the three heroes of the book fight their way through waves of thugs ranging from Bar room bruisers to naked stripper ninja chicks……….aye ye read that right, NAKED STRIPPER NINJA CHICKS!

There’s not much about this book to not like if your male aged 25-35 and grew up on a diet of side scrolling beat-em-ups and action movies like myself and it’s not overly directed at a male audience that all you ladies should be able to enjoy it also.

The first issue closes out a full story arc in one go and is the first in a 3 part series. The action is non stop and the story moves a brisk pace that grips you like any good action movie or videogame should. The artwork is pretty damn sweet as well and delivers some awesome visual pieces throughout the story.

I freakin loved this book and glad I heard about it prior to hunting it out, when described in it’s own synopsis,

“A young orphan named Rock was left for dead, now he’s out for revenge! With partners Lex and Bear by his side, our hero will find out who burned his home and family to the ground. If that means taking on every goon, punk, and topless stripper ninja in the city… then so be it. PART ONE OF THE BORN TO LOSE TRILOGY!”

I pretty much knew I needed to have it after that.

In short, If you love Streets of Rage and Van Damme movies, you’ll LOVE Burn the Orphanage. Go buy it!

9.8/10

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The writer of this piece was:
Jamie Wilson aka (J)
Article: Stuff and Things
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