Last week Mortal Kombat X treated readers to a quick, yet effective retelling of Sub-Zero's long and bloody history. It served as one of the better chapters in this series so far, but it didn't address the cliffhanger from previous issues: the army outside the walls of Kotal Khan's city.
This issue doesn't attempt to divide our attention. It is 100 percent dedicated to depicting the brutal siege, as the warriors of Earthrealm are caught in the crossfire of this Outworld civil war.
For the most part this issue succeeds. It focuses on a handful of characters and their role in the battle. Kotal Khan watches from afar, contemplating his next move as his warriors fall beneath the seemingly endless tide of Shokan warriors, with his loyal servants D'vorah and Ferra/Torr waiting to engage the enemy.
But while Kotal Khan and his most skilled warriors sit the battle out, the heroes of Earthrealm are in the trenches. It is Sonya Blade who is the real star of this issue. Much of this week's chapter revolves around Sonya's battle with one massive Oni warrior. While Sonya is nimble enough to avoid the creature's massive axe, her comrades from Earth aren't so lucky, resulting in some gruesome deaths. Neither her of Johnny Cage are sure of the other's safety, and gives us a little insight into the relationship between these two characters. They may be divorced, but they still care deeply for one another, even if they both don't want to admit it.
Eventually Kotal Khan enters the fray and pledges that he will aid Sonya in finding her daughter. But first, the pair must survive the battle at hand.
It all makes for an entertaining battle that we will have to wait until next week to see conclude, but it isn't quite on the same level of last week's issue or even the issue before. This is largely thanks to Igor Vitorino's artwork. It gets the job done, but it isn't as detailed or as cleanly drawn as what we saw from Daniel Sempere last week. What is easy to see is that series writer Shawn Kittelson is finding his groove. No longer does he solely rely on cheesy one-liners or forced game references to move the story along. Not to say that Mortal Kombat is completely serious: it's not.
The games have always been tongue-in-cheek and over-the-top, and this comic series is no different. It's more that Kittelson has reached a point with characters like Johnny and Sonya where they are finally seeing some character development , instead of Kittelson just going for the easy laughs. The book is all the better for it.
Story
★★★☆☆
Art
★★★☆☆
Overall
★★★☆☆
More Comic Book Reviews:
Mortal Kombat #16
Batman: Arkham Knight #10
Batman #39
Convergence #3
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