White Savior #3
Todd and Maggie hatch a new plan, but it’s out of the frying pan and into the fire in White Savior #3, by writers Eric Nguyen and Scott Burman, artist Nguyen, colorist Iwan Joko Triyono, and letterer Micah Myers. This penultimate issue adds even more wrinkles to the plot, with a surprising ending.
Todd and Maggie work to get rid of Nathan’s body. They’re discovered, but talk their way out of it. Maggie skins Nathan’s face off, creating a mask, and the two come up with a new plan. The next day, Todd shows up at the battle wearing Nathan’s face and uses the power of white overconfidence to talk Yoshihiro’s army out fighting that day. On the other side of the field, Kenzo wonders what’s happened and they go back to his castle to plan. Back in the village, Todd goes into Nathan’s room, where Yoshihiro’s daughter tries to seduce. He rebuffs her advances, and is called out by Yoshihiro. The villagers discovered Nathan’s body, but think it’s the village idiot’s - i.e. his - and tell him that they will celebrate after they win the battle the next day. After that, he walks the town, acting the part when Maggie approaches him and asks him about his plan. He decides to go to Kenzo’s castle and try to talk him out of it. This doesn’t work, as he’s put into the Circle of Death to fight Kenzo’s greatest warrior, the Wall. The two fight for a bit and Todd discovers he knows the Wall - it’s his friend Neal. The two talk about the very similar ways they found themselves where they are, with Maggie showing up and watching in disbelief. Unfortunately, Kenzo decides to kill them both and they run off.
This issue builds the plot even more than the last couple of issues. Now, as far as it goes, this issue isn’t as funny as the last issue, but it still has its share of jokes. Nguyen and Burman play Todd as the white savior in the most hilarious way. He’s constantly saying completely outlandish things and everyone is believing them. The book constantly lampoons white overconfidence, which is the main joke of the issue. Luckily, it’s played just enough where it doesn’t get tired. Todd’s exchange with Yoshihiro’s daughter is awesome as well. She reveals she loves Nathan and Todd, who has a crush on her, thinks it’s because he’s white. There are some good jokes in the exchange and it works very well for the story’s premise.
The battle between Todd and the Wall is fun and him turning about to be Neal is pretty great. The best part of it is that Neal also thinks he’s the hero of the story. However, this part feels like it’s a little far. It’s not bad, but it’s straining the joke a little too much. Nguyen and Burman have proven that they’re able to make gold out of anything, though, so this could end up to be pretty cool in the last issue.
Nguyen and Triyono knock the art out of the park again. The figure work and detail are stellar, but a very cool thing about this issue and the book in general is the backgrounds. Backgrounds aren’t often thought about in comics. All the action happens upfront, but backgrounds set the scene. Some artists will take advantage of this by skimping on the backgrounds. Nguyen doesn’t. The backgrounds set the scene very well and it’s nice to see that the art team puts as much thought into them as the foreground.
White Savior #3 is good, but not as funny as the previous issue. The jokes are still there, though, and the team does a lot more plot work in this issue. The reveal of Neal feels to be stretching things, but it’s a small problem in what is definitely an entertaining issue.
