Five Weapons #6

By Jimmie Robinson & Paul Little

When the first arc of Five Weapons was published it was supposed to be just a mini-series and it was a real good one to boot. Since it was so good and got more attention than people were expecting it was then turned into an ongoing series. With the release of issue six this week, Five Weapons returns and readers are curious what’s next from this series that actually had a decent ending.

This is the first issue that returns to The School of Five Weapons with a new semester and deals with a lot of the fallout from the ending of the last semester. Robinson does a decent job of both introducing new characters and ideas for this next arc while still trying to wrap up a few things from the last one that might seem confusing if not addressed. Even though it was nice seeing all of the characters we loved, there is still a lingering question of why continue a series that seemed to say everything it needed to say with the first five issues. The last arc seemed like it was Enrique against the whole school but this arc seems to be a complete reversal with most of the school against Enrique. There are plenty of sub plots and mysteries introduced this issue that will obviously carry on with the series, but for the first issue of Five Weapons’ return it doesn’t quite capture the magic you felt when reading the very first issue.

One of the most appealing aspects of Five Weapons has always been Robinson’s art. For being a story about a school training kids to be killer assassins his art, much like his story, carry a fun light-hearted feeling that make this series entertaining to read. Each and every character look so bright and easily stand out from each other that it makes looking at each and every panel a treat to look at. That’s probably what made this series so strong to readers was the assorted characters that Robinson designed and built so well that there is literally anyone can find one character to enjoy or relate to.

Even though it’s nice to return to all of the characters we loved in Five Weapons, we will have to see as time goes on if there was a need to return to the school after such a solid opening arc. This issue isn’t a bad start, there are a few parts that seemed like a mildly awkward transition from the previous arc to this new one such as the friendship between Enrique and Tyler. At the same time since this went from a mini-series to an ongoing can usually be a clunky transition but Five Weapons pulls it off better than most. As a reader we will have to see how this story progresses and hope Jimmie Robinson can capture the magic that made the first five issues so exciting to read every month.