Final Boss #6 – Birdcage

Tommy Brazen is on a mission to find his father. In a crazy turn of events, he is invited to a competition to find the greatest fighter or Final Boss on the planet. Turns out the location of this tournament is the same island his father went missing on. As Tommy advances in the tournament, will he be able to figure out what happened to his father…

Creative Team

Tyler Kirkham (Writer/Artist), David Miller (Artist), Ifansyah Noor (Colorist), Zen (Letterer/Editor)

Publisher: Image Comics

Birdcage

Issue six of Final Boss from Image Comics brings the main character (Tommy Brazen) to his first battle within the Mortal Kombat-style tournament to find the greatest fighter on the planet. Before the real action takes place, readers are taken back in time to when Tommy was a teenager in school. In this flashback, Tommy is a witness to a cruel act that he tries to stop. Unfortunately, he is too late, causing a rage that he has never felt before, a rage that is so perfectly written that readers will fully grasp the emotion Tommy feels.

This story fast forwards to the present where Tommy is prepping for his first battle within the tournament. His opponent is an interesting creature who embodies the abilities of an owl. This poses some challenges for Tommy in terms of his striking. Just as in previous bouts, Tommy figures out a way to work around those hurdles.

Readers of this series already know that Tommy absorbs power and energy from his opponents. There is yet another aspect to his abilities that readers will come to realize within this issue. That aspect has everything to do with how this book starts. Tommy channels most of his abilities from what he learned from his late grandfather who is a god in his eyes. He understands that he is blessed with not of this world abilities and continues to learn what he is capable of.

A very relatable tone to this story is that one never truly knows their own capacity within the world. Tommy is constantly learning about himself. Before entering this competition, Tommy was a star within the underground fight scene. Now that he has been invited to this tournament, he is quickly learning that he may not be as good as he was within the underground.

The Writing

Tyler Kirkham is giving this story so much substance with each issue. The dynamic of splitting each issue into two separate parts, back story and present, really gives this series a dynamic platform for storytelling. The plot for this story opens up many different avenues for it to travel down. The script for this story is very simple yet packed with mystery and adventure.

The Artwork

Tyler Kirkham, David Miller & Ifansyah Noor generate amazing visuals for the story. The pencil work is sharp with so much focus on details throughout. The details are then highlighted by the astonishing coloration on display. All of the action splash pages are a comic book fan’s dream!

Variant Covers

Final Thoughts

This issue comes after the release of this series’ first volume trade (issues one through five). After taking the time to read the first five issues, I was hooked and wanted to cover this series! There is a fan base for Mortal Kombat, and this is a modern-day version. This series gives readers amazing backstory details mixed in with brutal fights that power up the main character! Who could ask for more from a series like this? If you’re a fan of Mortal Kombat, then you need to check out Final Boss!

Overall Grade: 10/10

Links

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Previous Final Boss Review: Final Boss: Masked Vigilante #1 – Revenge
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