This Ends Tonight #1 – A bloody awakening!

Breakneck story telling by writers Gerry Duggan, Robert Windom & Kelvin Mao and artists Jae Lee & June Chung from Image Comics.

THIS ENDS TONIGHT #1

• Writers: Gerry Duggan, Robert Windom & Kelvin Mao
• Artist: Jae Lee
• Colorist: June Chung

FROM SOLICITATION:

“The pulse-pounding comic event of the summer aims for your jugular, courtesy of master artist JAE LEE (Inhumans, SEVEN SONS) and GERRY DUGGAN (X-Men, FALLING IN LOVE ON THE PATH TO HELL). THIS ENDS TONIGHT is the kick-off of three interconnected tales of bloody revenge in Las Vegas. The debut issue stars two sisters hunted by assassins for their shocking family secret. It’s an over-sized, action-packed romp, and every panel is crushed with love by JAE… THIS ENDS TONIGHT!”

THE WAIT IS OVER

THIS ENDS TONIGHT has the making of a summer blockbuster movie. Apparently, this project has been delayed a few times since it was first solicited back in 2023, I believe. However, when you get the full scope what it is that they’re trying to accomplish here, you’ll understand the delays. Eventually this story is going to cross over three separate titles. As you can imagine, THIS ENDS TONIGHT is chapter number one.

KILL BILL MEETS UNDERWORLD IN THE HANGOVER

Best way to describe this issue is Ambitious. I feel like I have to warn you, you will have to hit the ground running when you go through this comic book. There is no time to waste. Yes, there’s a lot of exposition. But because it’s happening alongside the action, across Las Vegas strip, it doesn’t feel dense or heavy on the reading. If I had to explain what this comic book looks like, or what is the feel to this story, I would tell you this is Kill Bill meets Underworld in the Hangover universe. There’s intense action, t’s bloody, it has mythical elements, and it has Las Vegas as a backdrop.

A SHATTERED TALE

The jagged and chattered panels give a sense of a broken story. Which is quite on par with one of the themes of the narrative. You have this character, called Annie, that is essentially the POV for the reader. Annie is learning her family’s real history for the first time. In the middle of very dangerous and confusing pursuit. In the end, you must give Jae Lee a lot of credit. Because even in difficult shattered panels, the visuals are undeniable.

HOW ABOUT THE ART?

The art by Jae Lee is very ambitious. For example, the panel structure and the two-page spreads are some of the wildest pages you will ever see in a comic book format. Also, June Chung did justice to the visuals with excellent coloring as well. Consequently, this is pretty out there, even for an Indie comic book. Furthermore, it comes across as Jae Lee challenging himself as an artist. Or maybe a challenge the status quo of comic book storytelling?

OVERALL GRADE: 10/10

Finally, the writers Gerry Duggan, Robert Windom and Kelvin Mao took some risks with THIS ENDS TONIGHT. However, I believe they hit a home run with issue #1. The story is very captivating and engaging. Thus, it pushes you from one panel to the next, to one page to the next, all the way through almost 40 pages of storytelling. Of course, you might feel disoriented. You might find yourself flipping backwards to see if you missed anything. But this will leave you wanting more. I know, because that’s exactly how I felt

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