With Rai #10, writer Dan Abnett, artist Juan Jose Ryp, colorist Andrew Dalhouse, and letterer Dave Sharpe bring the current series to a close. But their story begins not with Rai, but his little brother Raijin.
Rai #9 left us on a cliffhanger, with the organic storm called the Dark attacking New Ur's defenses. It also ended in a battle between the Roman positronic Tekus and Rai and Raijin's Human companion Alice Klane. When Alice's defense fails, Raijin leaps to intervene.
Unfortunately, he is too late.
I love how Raijin's words and stance demonstrate his thoughts and feelings. Unlike Rai, his little brother wears his heart on his sleeve.
Even though he knows Tekus delivered a mortal blow, Raijin sends a signal to Rai. His elder brother may be elsewhere with the city's ruler Fusion. Still, if anything can be done to save Alice, Raijin will leave no stone unturned.
Sadly, Rai is battling Fusion, and cannot spare the effort to communicate with Raijin. Fusion is enraged, believing that in allowing a Human into his city, he has given the Dark a way through his defenses. Everything Fusion has built in New Ur, a city a hundred times larger and more complex than Romulus, is at risk, as the Dark seemingly devours his positronics-only community.
Rai was once the premier guardian of the vast orbital city of New Japan. Fusion has enhanced his positronic body with two remnants of Bloodfather's consciousness. In Juan Jose Ryp's hands, the two hack and slash through panels. Like the Dark, their duel consumes and obliterates pages.
The issue ends amid a combined assault by the Dark and the Kor'Tunga. The latter are the same Human-Animal hybrids who constantly attacked the Human and Positronic inhabitants of Romulus. New Ur seems certain to fall.
Meanwhile, in Rai and Raijin's home community of Hinansho Town, Bloodfather has detected Lula's efforts to extract the fading shell of Ray Garrison (aka Bloodshot) from the Datastream. The almighty A.I. (artificial intelligence) Bloodfather orders his troops to attack the town peopled with Humans, Positronics, and Kor'Tunga.
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| Cover B by Roberto de la Torre |
While the series leaves most threads hanging, one storyline comes to a satisfactory--if temporary--resolution. Still, revelations in the final pages open up intriguing possibilities. Let's hope that once the pandemic is over, a sequel series can begin.
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| Pre-Order cover by Jose Ladronn |
While Dan Abnett abandoned single- and two-issue story arcs in the latter half of the series, these final five issues have been full of character growth, drama, and excitement. Juan Jose Ryp's penciling and Andrew Dalhouse's coloring--in all ten issues--gave the saga a consistent and unified appearance. Lastly, I must say that I've never been so impressed with a letterer's efforts than by Dave Sharpe's contributions in this series.
Despite the break imposed by the pandemic, and the slow return of comics to local stores, this series has remained in my mind. No comic series have I read and reread, or marveled at and wondered about, like I have Rai. Well done Abnett, Ryp, Dalhouse, and Sharpe, as well as editors David Menchel and Lysa Hawkins, and everyone else at Valiant. If I sat on an awards committee, I would readily nominate Rai for Best Comic Series of 2020.
Dragon Dave
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