Writer: John Arcudi

Artist: James Harren

Colors: Dave Stewart

Survivor’s Guilt

A scarecrow walks into the bar with a giant sword and everything just falls into place afterwards.  The weird and visceral tale of a fallen warrior, a bartender, and his friend returns after a three month break. We get the beginning of a new arc and standalone story this issue.

The recap of the story is done in the first few pages of the story. Action takes a step back from this issue to focus on an emotional tale. Diving into the past of Bobby and Rathraq, we see pieces of their past unfold. Arcudi takes us back to a scene with Bobby in his youth and coming to terms that what his father’s message rang true to him in the the present. He let’s out his fear, anxiety, and depression after having killed the fire demon to his comatose mother. Seeing the creature in his head, hurts him at his core as he had to make a split decision between life or death. Del thinks that Bobby should be strutting it after killing the fire demon but Rathraq tell him of his past and the things he had to do to keep people safe, even if it made seem like a villain. Arcudi creates some very emotional scenes for Bobby and Rathraq discussing life, death, being human, and the struggle to deal with it. It makes the story have depth and add more not just to Bobby but Rath as well. Arcudi makes you feel for both of them and how hard it is to make a choice, even if you may not like it and have it stay with you. The use of narrative feels genuine and has gravitas to it. The dialog feels natural and characters interaction is handled very well here.

James Harren compliments Arcadi’s dialogue with his art and keeps the flowing of the story without it being confusing. The emotions on Bobby’s face as he looks back over what has happened is done to great effect. The flashback to Rath in the is beautiful and shows how menacing looking Rathraq was back in the day. I like how Harren makes the creature Rath is there to kill look innocent and turns on a dime when he tries to go in for the kill. The action is fierce and fast as Rath and his hound take on the beast with some minor interference. Dave Stewarts pallette of colors work together with the satisfying artwork to contrast the emotional tone of Bobby’s emotional state. I also noticed that Rath’s sword seems to alter in size. It’s not something to take away from the story but it seems the sword seems more smaller on the past Rath than the current one.

Rumble #6 does a good job of handing a life or death situation, trying to deal with it, and having consequences for our actions. We learn more about the past of Bobby and his current situation as well as Rathraq and what he did to protect people. James Harren’s amazing art makes the story flow seamlessly and Dave Stewart’s colors help the scene’s pop. This was a great issue of a new arc thats easy to get into and I can’t wait for next issue.

5 Three-Legged Dogs out of 5