Publisher:  BOOM! Studios
Writer: Kate Leth
Artist: Ian McGinty
Release Date: 23rd July 2014

It’s good to see the Bravest Warriors comic back on form. Recently the comic has suffered from a baffling tie-in to the show’s second season which was incredibly hard to follow and understand, while sucking out a lot of the more light-hearted and humourous aspects of the comic’s earlier days. Issue #21 began a new story unbound by the labyrinthine mythos the Bravest Warriors show has recently burdened itself with, and felt all the better for it. Issue #22 continues this revival, even if it is at the cost of lowered narrative stakes.

The story in these most recent issues has been incredibly simple, and detached from the series in all but the inclusion of recurring character/villain RoboChris. This frees up the story from having to fill in the gaps of the web-series’ plot, and leaves a much cleaner and linear story about RoboChris’ attempts to murder ‘MeatChris’. This paring down allows the comic to focus on what it always did best, show the Bravest Warriors at their most hilarious and ass-kicking. We may have lost the sense of something greater than simply rescuing Chris, but I believe the trade off is worth it when the jokes and action feel this good. This is probably best seen in the return of the always hilarious 4th wall-breaking jokes hidden at the bottom of each page in light blue text (although strangely in these last two issues they are sometimes complete gibberish which is either a joke I’m not getting or a massive oversight).

The art is fantastic as always, mirroring the show’s style and design while remaining expressive in the medium of the comic page. The B-Story included at the end brings a much shorter-format story centred around a single joke, and is told through a unique art-style which offers a fresh perspective on the Bravest Warriors universe. As is the case with most of these short stories it is refreshing to finish each issue on something guaranteed to be visually unique, and the added value it brings to a purchase is welcomed.

If you, like myself, had become weary of Bravest Warriors comics in the last few months, then I’m delighted to say you can jump back on with issues #21 and #22 and have an absolute blast.

Rating: 4/5.

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The writer of this piece was: Andrew Stevens