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Cry Havoc #5 Review

Comic Books

Cry Havoc #5 Review

Time to check back in with Cry Havoc and see how bad things have been getting for our protagonist. Is it good?

Cry Havoc #5 (Image Comics)

Cry Havoc #5 Review

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The Breakdown

Cry Havoc #5 is a sort of lull before the big epic climax. Not a whole lot actually happened in this issue unfortunately and anything that did didn’t feel rewarding. In the London portion, we saw Lou finally go off the deep end and cave into her deep animalistic desires, but we already suspected that happened given the fact that she ended up joining this group. The Afghanistan part just fills in some small gaps about how Lou got from there to the Red Place. Nothing new is revealed in that part nor were there any surprises to it. Finally, the Red Place portion of the book has nothing going on in it. Sure, we learn that help is on the way and Odell is out for revenge, but that’s it. Lou and Sri are in the exact same position as the last issue. This is a real letdown, since a lot happened in the past few issues.

The characterization left a lot to be desired as well. We get some decent characterization for Lou as we see her breakdown and her cave into her inner beast in the London section. It’s rather sad and disheartening to see her crack like this, but that’s really it. She does nothing else nor does she really advance as a character, which is sadly typical for the past four issues (she’s just a tagalong in the Afghanistan portion and a captive in the Red Place). There’s nothing new or any development with any of the other characters either, besides Bleacher being a complete idiot (you suspected these guys could still be on the villain’s side, but you still sent them in anyways on this mission). We don’t get any motivations or reasons why some of the team was on Odell’s side, which would have been nice to know so we could actually understand why they betrayed everyone. There’s nothing with Lou’s girlfriend, Odell is still quite disturbed as always, and Zeitgeist is just a plot device. For a character that Odell loves going on and on about, the guy really doesn’t leave much of an impression and any of his supposed traits are merely told to us instead of shown.

Cry Havoc #5 Review

The rest of the material in the book is alright. There’s nothing wrong with the pacing and the storytelling is perfectly fine, providing no difficulty at all when reading the comic. The dialogue can be iffy at times, with some characters talking in odd, unnatural, and weirdly poetic ways that comes across as awkward. Ryan Kelly’s artwork is the strongest part of the comic, providing some good and creepy visuals. I especially love the monster rampages with how visceral and disturbing they look as people are ripped apart and destroyed. The coloring by the three different artists still looks nice as well (Matt Wilson is the best of the three in my opinion, with him covering the Afghanistan portions) and their work fits every scene and mood in the book.

Is It Good?

Cry Havoc #5 is underwhelming. There’s not much going on with the story this time around and there’s very little in the way of characterization for anyone outside of the lead. I suspect if you were to read this issue in a trade collection, it would be a lot better since you could easily just move onto the next issue. However, as a single issue in a series that releases one issue a month, this comic just did not deliver like you would hope. I say skip picking up this issue until the next one comes out, unless you can get it cheap. There’s no reason to get it right now, even if you are desperate to find out what happens next.

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