The Jericho story continues!

For those unlucky enough not to be familiar with it, Jericho is the 2006-2008 television show about the aftermath of a nuclear event in the United States and its effect on a group of people in a small Kansas town.

Season Four begins with Jake Green and Robert Hawkins returning to Jericho, for which both are extremely happy. But things in the outside world are anything but peaceful. The country itself is neatly split into two rival camps by the Mississippi River; the eastern section of the country calling itself the USA, while the western states are now called the Allied States of America. While separate nations, both the USA and ASA have the same problems: food is scarce, relief aid is sporadic, lawlessness is epidemic, a plague has begun to spread, and a war with the other is looming. So while our two heroes have succeeded in their mission from Season Three, they find themselves trapped into a political plot that could reveal the villains behind the September nuclear bombings, topple a government, start a revolution, and get everyone they care about killed!

Like the previous comic collection, Jericho: Season Four is plotted by the creative team behind the television series. This consistence in writing remains the strong point of this collection, as the story continues without any deviation from the previous plot lines with all the familiar characters included in the goings-on in Jericho. And while the tone of the story changes a bit, it is still 100% Jericho with several lingering mysteries beginning to be answered.

There were a couple of problems with this collection, however.

One, the artwork was not a strong point. One issue would be great, and then the next would feature a different artist who might not live up to the high stands this series has exhibited in the past. In fact, there were a few times in the story where the heads of the characters appeared to be “photoshopped” onto a body. Something that did not work at all and really ruined the whole visual presentation. Lucky, though, these problems were sporadic enough not to derail the story.

Two, the story was slow. There are lots of conversations between characters, lots of plotting what to do next, but not much action. Not that dialogue is a bad thing, mind you, but here the talking seemed to be setting up plots for future stories rather than tying into what was currently going on.

With those criticism outlined, however, a Jericho story with problems is better than no Jericho story at all, so I’d encourage any fan of the show to pick this one up. And for those unfamiliar with the show, get on Netflix and try it out!

For those who have never heard of Jericho, it was a television show which aired from 2006-2008 and focused on a group of characters thrown together in a small town in the State of Kansas after a nuclear event in the United States. While the show was definitely post-apocalyptic in focus, dealt with the aftermath of a limited nuclear catastrophe, and spent lots of screen time exploring the issues of terrorism, political cover-ups, conspiracies, mercenary armies, and corrupt corporations, it never lost sight of the fact that it was a story about ordinary people.

When the show ended its run, the story naturally had a less-than-stellar ending – though it was, at least, a conclusion of sorts. But thankfully (for Jericho fans, at least) the shows writers and producers got together with a couple comic companies, obtained the actors’ permissions to use their real likenesses, and created this official continuation of the series.

Jericho: Season Three – Civil War starts off exactly how the tv series ended with Jake Green and Robert Hawkins in the independent Republic of Texas with a nuclear bomb. From there the surprises and excitement keeps building as the brewing war between the successor states of the U.S.A. begins to break out in earnest and the mysterious mastermind of the September nuclear attacks on U.S. cities begins to be revealed.

After finishing this comic collection, the first thing I must say is thank you to everyone involved in getting this project done and gifting it to the show’s fans. It is, without a doubt, a welcome addition to the Jericho mythos and seamlessly carries on the story, weaving a post-apocalyptic plot that has the perfect mixture of nuclear horror, political mystery, human struggles, acts of nobility, and periods of brutality to entertain anyone!

Now, with my fanboy gushing over, I have to remind everyone that nothing is perfect. And this comic collection is not an exception. My main criticisms of it being that the story is just not complex enough.

As fans of the show may recall, on television, there was a large cast of characters; people the production team could highlight and immerse in an ongoing plot before moving on to another character, do the same things with him or her before repeating with yet another person while constantly foreshadowing future events. It was a type of storytelling that allowed a very complex storyline to develop organically, and Jericho the tv series really excelled at it. Unfortunately, though, a six part comic series obviously did not give the writers the luxury to use this method, but required them to focus on a smaller core of people, provide less details in exchange for rapidly fleshing out the overarching story of what happens to the USA, Texas, and the ASA (Allied States of America) as the Second American Civil War breaks out. And while they did an admirable job making it work, it really was a bit of a letdown in its narrower focus.

Criticism aside, though, this is a very good continuation of the Jericho television series. The artwork is top notch, faithfully renders the actors, and does an excellent job visually “selling” the story. And that story is pure Jericho. No, it isn’t quite as complex. No, it doesn’t juggle as many different characters and storylines. But it is still a satisfying continuation of a series that was cancelled way before its time.