A Jaw-Dropping Finale In The Raid #4
by Josh Davison
[*Mild Spoilers Ahead!]
The Assassin, Baseball Bat Man, and Hammer Girl surround the prison holding Rama and Teja. The three killers intend to end Teja, but Rama won’t let that happen. Rama and Teja escape their cell to find the prison on fire. The fire is burning in certain corridors, herding the two men to an ideal place for confrontation. Rama is held up, and Teja makes it to the prison yard–where he finds the three killers waiting for him.
I will admit that I’ve not watched the Raid films, though I very much intend to do so. I dig the hell out of elaborate martial arts action films, so Raid looks to be up my alley.
Titan’s Raid miniseries certainly conveys this idea, too. It aims to recreate the intense and brutal action of the films in comic form and, though I can’t speak to how well it matches up to the movies, the comic is both fun as hell and intensely violent.
Teja is a fairly sympathetic lead figure. He wanted to be a good cop, but the world folded in against him and lead him to where he is now. He’s resilient though, and he fights with every inch of his will against the three killers pitted against him.
Rama isn’t in this issue as much as one might expect. He’s taken off the board pretty quickly and doesn’t come back in until the very end.
The three assassins don’t speak much, but their actions, demeanor, and the artwork of Budi Setiawan imbue them with little bits of personality.
Setiawan’s artwork does justice to the elaborate and brutal action sequences within Raid #4. The paneling and angles are constructed well, and the gore and bodily harm are both striking and well detailed. Brad Simpson gives intense reds and grim browns to build the color palette to suit the gritty and cruel story of Raid.
The Raid #4 is a bombastic, gruesome, and engrossing finale to this Raid 2 prequel miniseries. There is plenty of action, intensity, and brutality. The pacing is swift, the layouts are solid, and the art is great. This one earns a recommendation. Check it out if you can stomach the gore.
The Raid #4 comes to us from writers Alex Paknadel and Ollie Masters, artist Budi Setiawan, color artist Brad Simpson, letterer Jim Campbell, and cover artist Rhoald Marcellius.
