4001 A.D #3

4001 AD #3
Written by Matt Kindt
Art by: Clayton Crain
published by Valiant Comics
This was a great issue. We get the confrontation we've been waiting for since issue one of Rai. After a slow start to the issue, the action really picks up quickly. Thanks to his friends Lulu and the 4001 Geomancer, Rai has an army to fight Father and his forces. We get a few pages of awesome surprises and call backs to other books. I won't give too much detail here but the Valiant fan boy in me was so thrilled with every page. I really hope this is all leading to a Rai and the Future Force kind of series. As we headed into this issue I was convinced that Rai wasn't going to make it out alive, I won't say what happened but we will get some major fall out from this one in the finale of 4001 AD
Between Ninjak, Divinity, Rai and 4001 AD I feel I have spent months singing the praises of Matt Kindt. What can I say that I haven't already said. Since Rai issue 1 we've been building towards this, and its been clear since day one that Rai was either going to take back New Japan or he would die trying. So the build up to this story was excellent. I do find that sometimes while reading Rai I lose focus on what's going on narratively, but that might just be a problem with the lettering, with some of it being black in grey text boxes, very minor complaint though. The seeds have been planted for  some really great stuff coming out of this, very exciting stuff.
Clayton Crain's art is great, I loved it. The action scenes are really good. Lots of really good stuff here, the back ground stuff during the fight scenes were a highlight. At one point to I had to go back to make sure I actually saw the character I thought I did. The colours are good, I love the painted look.
The series is coming to an end soon with just one more month till the summer event is over. It's been all positive and I'm glad to along for these quality books we are getting month after month. If you've read Rai since the beginning then I highly recommend reading this book, if not, wait for the trade of the mini series but we aware that you do need some knowledge of the previous Rai arc's otherwise there might be some confusion. Great book!