Comic Reviews: RAI #6

RAI #6 by (w) Matt Kindt and (a) Clayton Crain

Let me shoot straight with you guys, there are 2 big reasons I’m reviewing this book. The first is because I’m a big sucker for Crain’s artwork. His art is what sucked me in to buying monthly comics right after I graduated high school. His cover for Venom and Carnage #1 is like nothing I had ever seen. He was the first comic artist I ever commissioned for a sketch. It’s hanging in my living room to this day.

The second reason is very simple. Since I’ve been active on twitter (about a week and a half) I’ve started following more comic publishers, writers, artists, editors, etc. Valiant Comics tweeted out a picture of Crain’s cover for RAI #6. I retweeted it, simply adding “that cover!”. Then, Valiant Comics retweeted my comment, which various people favorited. A big time comic book publisher retweeted something I said, and it got some hits. Well, as dumb as it might be, if Valiant is willing to take the time to do that for me, I’m going to review this comic.

So, RAI #6. I’m diving head first in to a comic 6 issues in, not knowing ANYTHING about the story, other than I’ve seen the holo-foil cover to RAI #1 that was released in the ‘90s. And I’m a big fan of the current artist. My first thought after reading this, is that I’m going to go back and pick up issues #1-5.

Not that the story was too confusing or anything. It was just that good. The writer, Matt Kindt, actually did a great job of laying just enough background with these characters’ histories, but not weighing it down with too much text. What was most fascinating about this story is the world they live in, this New Japan: locations like the Fungal Farms and races like the Positrons and whatever hybrid race Izak belongs to. This issue did just enough to let me know why the great overseer of their world, Father, is the bad guy here. I don’t know if this is really a great place to be jumping in to the story, but I jumped in, and I’m hooked. Kindt did a great job of getting me intrigued but not overwhelming me. There are a few things I don’t quite get, like what exactly IS Rai? And whether this guy Spylocke is actually good or bad. Those are the things Issues #1-5 will clear up. Not to seem too biased, it took me a little while to notice that this was a very slow moving issue. I was busy soaking up all the new information about this world that it almost escaped me that the only “action” in this book was two of our good guys duking it out for a page before they were talked down, and an interrogation that ended in an off-panel death.

Crain’s art is par for the course, amazing as usual. I really enjoy his background in the Fungal Farms sector, as I mentioned earlier. It kind of speaks for itself.

This comic really gives a dose of sci-fi that’s just not found in Marvel comics. With Marvel, even when super heroes are in space, it’s not sci-fi… it’s just super heroes in space. This has a very Matrix/Equilibrium vibe going on. Mix in some wonderful Guillermo del Torro-type creatures, and you get RAI.

Overall, I give RAI #6 an 8.5 out of 10. I haven’t been reading it enough to know what random unit of measurement to use.