American Ronin perfectly blends high suspense espionage-esque storytelling with a near-perfect dosage of memorable moments.
American Ronin is the latest series coming out of AWA Studios. Written by Peter Milligan and illustrated by artist ACO. The series focuses on one man who goes by the alias “American Ronin”, looking to single-handedly take down these huge corporations who are in a secret war for the right of world domination.
The rich and powerful work from behind the scenes moving around like chess pieces on a chessboard in order to gain the upper hand against their enemy. At the ready are these highly skilled and technology-enhanced operatives (essentially super soldiers) who are trained from the age of 10 to combat all threats and protect their master at all costs. Our American Ronin is one of these enhanced operatives who has broken the mental hold that was instilled in him since the age of 6. We meet Ronin in Hong Kong on the hunt for Barrett Cornell, one of the richest and powerful men in the world.
[Barrett] Cornell, despite his richness and powerful stature suffers from a huge case of what one would consider depression. The way he copes with his vices is by sleeping with younger women who are about half his age. He relishes in this false sense of conquering by doing so and just like any other rich, narcissistic a*****, who gets off on his own masochism; this is all to feed his ego, to further fill his false sense of accomplishment.
Our protagonist Ronin knows this and in this issue uses that to his advantage in order to get to his target. The way he does this is highly impressive as he also moves around like a chess piece on a chessboard thus eventually getting to his target without actually laying a finger on him.
This all comes at a price. After convincing a young woman to gather Barrett Cornell’s DNA. Ronin shoots Barrett’s DNA into his bloodstream. The nanotechnology that was embedded into his cerebral cortex allows Ronin to feel anything and everything his target [Barrett] feels. Including his personal desires, his fears, his dreams, and his sole desire for suicide. As I mentioned above, Ronin uses all this to his advantage in order to get to Barrett Cornell and eventually convinces him to commit the act of suicide he so desperately desired.
With his mission now complete, Ronin is on the run and in hiding but is still reeling from the effects of injecting himself with Barrett’s DNA. Mission complete, but at a severe cost.
Overall this first issue was a great introduction to the American Ronin himself and the overall series. From a storytelling aspect, there were some moments where I felt that the exposition was there just to fill the quota of pages that needed to be met in order for the issue to be published.
While some of the exposition was highly useful information, some of it I personally couldn’t have done without, especially with that big moment in the final pages of the issue. But it does nail the important details that you as the reader needs in order to understand the protagonist you know nothing about.
I have no gripes with the art for this issue. I think it was beautifully illustrated and Dean White’s colors really makes ACO’s artwork pop with every turn of the page.
The issue does leave you with some questions that need to be answered but I’m more than ok with them not being answered right away granted that this is the first issue. This is a book I highly recommend and given how it’s only five issues long, I think it’s off to a great start. It’s one of the better books I’ve read this year!
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