Review – King Tiger #1 (Dark Horse Comics)

Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Writer: Randy Stradley
Artist: Doug Wheatley
Release Date: 12th August, 2015

What do you get when you mix Iron Fist, Doctor Strange and Iron Man? Well, as you’ve probably guessed… King Tiger. However, while this sounds good, the whole thing just didn’t work for me.

Don’t get me wrong, the writing, artwork, colouring and lettering are not bad by any stretch of the imagination. The pacing is okay, but definitely drags a bit at the beginning, mainly due to a callback to a previous mini series in which two of the main characters originally met.

Now for a mid-review rant; I’ve started to notice this more and more frequently lately, and it’s becoming a little irritating. The editor’s notes of the past were nice pointers about previous stories you maybe interested in, whereas now it’s becoming pretty much required reading. I don’t blame the writers or creators themselves, but rather the people commissioning the books. Instead of investing in a single ongoing series the industry is moving towards multiple limited series. I know this is due to the way we are consuming books, but there surely has to be a way to get the best of both worlds without the reader always having to go back and track down previous series’ in order to enjoy (or understand) the latest one.

Anyway, rant over… back to King Tiger. The story is what you’d except from a first issue with the lead characters coming across a big event that kicks off the series and ends with a cliffhanger. No spoilers here, as always, but that’s the general gist. I won’t say much about the group that wants King Tiger dead either, except for the fact that lead henchman looks like a cross between Swamp Thing, Moleman and Solomon Grundy.

The other characters are also mash ups of various characters with Tiger’s new caddy, Milo, being a mix of Casey Jones of TMNT and a hobo. The mix for Rikki, Tiger’s wealthy partner, is April O’Neill, Pepper Potts and Charley from Biker Mice from Mars. Starting to get the idea? I think that’s what this book’s big problem; the fact that all the character’s aren’t particularly well blended together. You can clearly see where the creative team have got their inspiration from and while that isn’t necessarily a bad thing in and of itself, in this case it’s too obvious to ignore, and actually detracts from the enjoyment of the story

So while I’m sure some people – particularly those who have read the previous series – will undoubtedly find themselves enjoying this one, I simply can’t recommend it at all for new readers.

Rating: 2/5.

The writer of this piece was: David Gladman