Random Thoughts On... Dynamite's Highlander Series

Outside of the movies and TV series, there isn’t much Highlander tie-in material out there. There are a couple of novels, some comic books, and a couple of video games (mostly cancelled ones), but that’s it. The creators have a tight leash on that property, don’t they? I can’t blame them, though. After all, it hasn’t been all good for the Highlander franchise. There's Highlander 2: the Quickening and other things to consider.

Around 2006, Dynamite Entertainment got the license to produce some Highlander comics. It was the 20^th anniversary of the first movie and there was another movie (Highlander: The Source) in production. Dynamite had a main series and a couple of mini-series but I’m just looking at the main series. I did hear about this comic series some time ago. I even saw the covers for some issues, but I wasn’t that interested in checking them out. It was Highlander Re-Watched that “reignited the Quickening “within me. There was also the fact that the trades were pretty cheap. You can barely turn away something that’s potentially interesting and cheap.

The series lasted 13 issues (#0-#12) and lasted from 2006 to 2007. Since we have another MacLeod showing up with Connor, this takes place in the universe of the TV series. Continuity can get a little confusing with this franchise. Writer Brandon Jerwa wrote it all and Michael Avon Oeming was along for the first arc. They worked closely with David Abramowitz, the creative consultant from the series and the movies. The artwork varied with each storyline.  “The Coldest War” was done by Lee Moder. “New Year’s Eve,” a single issue, was done by Kevin Sharpe. Fabio Laguna handled the third storyline,”Dark Quickening.” The final arc, “Armageddon,” had artwork done by Carlos Rafael.

• The Coldest War (#0-4) – This takes place in 1986 after Connor’s fight with the Kurgan in 1985. Connor is asked by former immortal allies to help take out a Russian cult of genetically engineered superhumans that the Kurgan once led. Apparently, they were responsible for the incident in Chernobyl. Yeah, this story goes there!  Things do go for a twist when one of them turns against the team. We also get an extended flashback of how Connor and his allies first met in 1964. Connor even goes up against the Kurgan in that long flashback.
• New Year’s Eve (#5) – This takes place in 1985 on New Year’s Eve. Connor and Brenda get an unexpected visit from Duncan Macleod. Things take a turn for the worst when Brenda is hit by a car. The whole issue pretty much revolves around Connor wondering what he’ll do if Brenda passes away. Luckily, Duncan is there to help him out. We do get a small flashback to World War 2 since Connor is getting pretty reflective here. Luckily, Brenda pulls through and things end on a happy note.
• Dark Quickening (#6-9) – This arc takes place in 1987. Connor is undergoing something called a Dark Quickening. Basically, the Kurgan’s soul is trying to overtake Connor. Once again, Duncan’s around to help. Unfortunately, they both also have to deal with a Japanese ninja clan that wants to use Dark Connor for their own means. We get two flashbacks here and we even see some old faces from the franchise like Hugh Fitzcarin and Sunda Kastagear. We even get a hint of the Watchers being around.
• Armageddon (#10-12) – This takes place in 2012, a few years after the events of Highlander: Endgame. Duncan went off the grid after those events. Immortals start to disappear around the world, so Duncan meets up Methos (another Immortal) to see what’s going on. They then get attacked by another Immortal and Methos is captured. Luckily, Joe Dawson and the Watchers are around to get Duncan. Joe tells Duncan about a former Watcher who’s started a cult and is trying to control The Game… I think. It’s a little muddled. Anyway, Duncan goes undercover, springs some familiar immortals, faces a nameless Immortal who kind of looked like him (seriously, I thought it was him for a bit), and gets nuked. It’s a weird story, okay?

So, what do I think of this short series? I got to say that it was a mixed bag overall. There were things that worked but there were things I definitely didn’t like.  At least it does what a Highlander property will do: you’ll get the good, the bad, or the ugly. What I mean by that it you’ll either get something akin to the first movie, the second movie, or the Source. While I can say that it doesn’t get ugly, it does get bad at times.

Ooo... a crossover.

PROS

While the series itself wasn’t the best, this still felt like Highlander to me. The characters felt right even though it all wasn’t perfect. I haven’t seen every movie nor TV episode, but the MacLeods and some side characters felt right. It was nice to see Conner and Duncan team up here a bit. We rarely saw those two interact in other places, so having Duncan pay visits was cool. It was also just nice to see Connor interact in this version of the Highlander universe since we only saw him on the show once. It was even cool to see other familiar faces from the movie and TV show.

If I ever need to purge some darkness, I won't be doing that in a cave.

The stories were a mix of things familiar and new. You’d get the usual rules of The Game and the standard sword fights. The writers also tried to show how fighting this game would affect someone. We get some of this in “New Year’s Eve” and Armageddon. Even though I didn’t like that last arc much, Duncan and the rest were okay character-wise. We also got concepts that were introduced on the show like Dark Quickenings. I guess it helps to have a creative consultant on your shoulder telling you about the lore, you know?

Connor: Duncan, you must go to the Dagobah system...

Duncan: Wait, let's not cross streams here! Also, why are you showing up to me as a ghost? Can that happen?

Connor: It can now. Heh heh heh.

Even though there aren’t too many story arcs, my favorite would have to be “Dark Quickening.”  It felt the most like Highlander to me. It had an interesting plot, good flashbacks, some nice fight scenes, and it tied the movie and TV series together in a nice way. If only the artwork was better. Anyway, “New Year’s Eve” would be in second. “Coldest War” felt a little out of left field with the supermen with swords, but it was still fun.

Man, this artwork looks wonky at times. What's up with Connor's face?

The artwork was a mixed bag. I can say that it did have its good moments. Most of them tried to get the actors’ looks down and they did sometimes succeed. As for whom my favorite artist was, I’m not sure. I’d say Lee Moder was probably the most consistent quality-wise. Plus, his fight scenes were quite nice. The many covers for the series were also pretty nice. You had guys like Tony Harris, Gabrielle Del’Otto, David Dorman, and Joe Prado doing some nice covers.  All of them are included with the trades at the back.

Well, I can at least say that the series had a nice ending. Also, I haven't seen an Immortal get nuked before. Duncan looks better than expected.

CONS

While I liked things about the series, it had its shortcomings. The biggest culprit I can point to is the artwork. While I said it had good moments, there were a lot of wonky moments too. Laguna’s artwork for “Dark Quickening” was trying its best to be photo referential, but it didn’t work at times. It also just looked weird for that storyline. I think the coloring also didn’t help. I ran into other wonky moments in the other arcs as well. I wasn’t taken out of the stories completely but it did get distracting sometimes.

So... what happened with Hugh? I guess they couldn't use Roger Daultrey's likeness. I almost thought this was Richie when I was glancing through this at first.

Then, some of the stories didn’t completely work for me. Coldest War and Armageddon were the ones that were weird to me. “Coldest War” had a weird plot with Russian supermen, but it was at least a nice romp with decent artwork. Another thing that annoyed me with that one was how the flashback was incorporated with the present story. There was also the issue with constantly bringing back the Kurgan in some form. I get that he was a cool villain, but could you get some other interesting villains in? The threats for Connor and Duncan here weren’t bad, but they were kind of forgettable.

While "The Coldest War" was okay, Tasya was a cool character.

Then, there’s “Armageddon.” Talk about a disappointing final arc. It did have an interesting premise, but it pretty much fell through the floor the more I read it. The plot really feels out of left field and it didn’t get better as it continued. It had little plot and too much action. The artwork was also not that great. When thinking about it, I wondered if this was a rush job since the other stories had four to five issues to last. This only had three and it could have been a little better if there was another issue around to flesh things out. I guess the creative team ran out of room since there were no more issues after it.

If you told me the dude with the goatee was Duncan without showing any other page and dialogue, I'd probably believe you. Seriously, who was that guy?

………………………………………………………………….

In the end, this series left me with mixed emotions. It had good moments but it also had its problems. I wonder why this series stopped at thirteen issues. Was that the whole plan or were there other factors involved? I’m not sure but I would like to find out. It would have been nice to see more come from the series. Well, I’m off to bed. Peace, God Bless, and be careful out there. Just remember to do that one move when all else fails… Run.