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Juggernaut One-Shot – Review

It's a train! It's a tank! No, it's Juggernaut! One of Marvel's best known villains demolishes his way through his own one-shot. Juggernaut being one of my favourite villains, upon discovering he had a one-shot, the opportunity was too much to pass up.

This issue begins in a bar in New Mexico. We are introduced to the owner talking with his regulars about having to make a stand against a guy who comes in for fights. In bursts the large man, with everyone terrified, except for a man in crimson armor. After Juggernaut knocks him out with one hit, he has sparked the interest of a woman whom wants his protection. This leads to him meeting up with Black Tom Cassidy, the woman being the succubus Spite and having to fight her brother D'Spayre.

Fair enough, one-shots must compress an entire story with an introduction, complication and resolution, so from the start the writer will face a challenge in finding the perfect balance. Joe Kelly (of the Man of Action – Ben 10 fame), his balance within this issue felt lacking. The introduction and middle felt long winded, thus making the ending rushed (like a Stanley Kubrick movie).

Issue CoverWith one-shots, the writer will quite often take the character in a different direction than what would be considered the norm (like Wolverine: Savage). Kelly focused on Juggernaut's want for the affection of the woman. Fair enough he is human and would want to be loved, but it felt out of character. If that wasn't enough during Juggy's fight with a demon, he starts to show all sorts of inner feelings instead of be intimidating. He came across as a sort of person you just wanted to hug and say, "its gonna be ok". This was towards the beginning of his career however, just look at his work with Amazing Spider-Man: The Grim Hunt story arc a vast improvement.

Duncan Rouleau penciled the issue. Whereas his artwork for Metal Men came across as almost caricature like, his artwork in this is much different. The artwork actually looks as though it was inspired by Todd McFarlane's art on Spawn but not quite pulling the technique off, way too many unnecessary lines. Another note on the artwork, Juggernaut's helmet, which is made of metal, well the hole for his mouth, it changes shape constantly! Understanding that a mouth is an important part to show a character's emotion, but it feels like that fact was just completely ignored.

The cover art though is impressive, with a slightly crazy looking Juggernaut crashing through a wall. Cool. If the large title "The Juggernaut" jumping out at you was not enough, there is a lot more text strewn across the cover, almost as if looking at a product's brochure rather than a comic book. Steven Moncuse did the inking. Colors were always bright and vibrant, like a Disney cartoon.

Wrapping up this comic, I would have to say that it was a disappointment with both the story and the artwork. One that fan's of Juggernaut should just forget ever existed, I know I will (even though I won't bring myself to throw it away, I did have to get it from eBay).

Story- 4.0

Pencils- 5.0

Inking- 6.0

Overall- 5.0

Rating
5.0

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