Deathmatch #10

Talk about  twist, we usually get the double cross, but triple? I’ve said it since the beginning but if there’s one thing this series has thrown at us consistently, its twists. Since the start nothing has been what it seems and just when you think you have everything figured out, boom, you’re hit with a surprise that changes your perspective on the whole story.

Just about everything in this issue was mind bottling in the sense that you were with Sable trying to find out just what’s going on here. Who is the real threat? Who is telling the truth? What is the truth? And can Manchurian be trusted? So much was explained that everything is as clear as day. Manchurian is definitely as smart as he appears to be, learning that he really calculated everything up to this point. Knew even when he himself would die, it takes some balls to see that many moves ahead and not change your own fate. That alone is what makes this story so character driven, their personalities are so strong and being thrown into this scenario didn’t change many of them. They fought to stay true to who they are and shows the level of substance Jenkins was trying to achieve while making this an engaging “game” so to speak.

I’ve got to hand it to Carlos Magno, he went over the top with the Tron-like design of Sable and Manchurian’s fight. That was the best design I’ve seen and the environment really made you think Manchurian was as powerful as he appeared. This aided in that confusion as to his loyalties because he came off as the villain, Magno made that much possible for us to believe.

Whatever the next issue has in store for us, it is the game changer. I have said this before and I was wrong, but that just proves how clever the writing is. This has already proven to be so much more than all the other books out there which put heroes and villains against each other to fight to the death. The concept here was very elaborate and you can see the layers that constantly appeared and unfolded.

Score: 8.5/10