The Kamandi Challenge continues with issue 12. Would it have made Jack Kirby proud?

The twelfth issue of The Kamandi Challenge starts off with a Frank Miller penciled cover, which is a great start. From there, we are tossed into a dream sequence, and then Kamandi ends up on a forested area that is dominated by giant rats. Will he survive long enough to battle them, or will something else occur to twist this whole scene around again?

It looks like the whole DC gang took part in writing, drawing and coloring this issue: Gail Simone writes, Jill Thompson and Ryan Sook draw, three people color, and four different artists supply variant covers. Oh, and there are two editors!

The first story, described above, moves along swiftly, ending in a cliffhanger. The SECOND story, an epilogue, reveals a lot about Kamandi’s situation. It makes for fascinating reading. It’s written by Paul Levitz, drawn by comic veteran José Luis Garcia-Lopez. But you can sense the spirit of Jack Kirby all over this issue, it’s almost as if he is the ‘ghost-writer’ of it all!!

There’s a lot of fun reading here, a well-composed comic that transmits a message “we’re almost finished the series”.

DC Comics The Kamandi Challenge #12, $4.99 for 39 pages of content, including a memorial tribute to writer Len Wein.

By Alan Spinney

After a career of graphic design, art direction and copywriting, I still have a passion for words and pictures. I love it when a comic book comes together; the story is tight, and the drawings lead me forward. Art with words... the toughest storytelling technique to get right. Was this comic book worth your money? Let's see!!