The Massive #17 delves into a more traditional fight between Callum Israel with a direct confrontation with old-school Norwegian whalers. How will the Ninth Wave fare against those who know all of Israel’s tricks of the trade and without the assistance of technology?

Official Description from DARK HORSE:
As Ninth Wave’s pre-Crash anti whaling ideology is challenged, so is their very place in these waters, as the crew of the Kapital enters a pitched battle against traditional whalers. Meanwhile, Mary is AWOL at this most crucial time, with no indications that she’ll ever come back or any clues to where she’s gone.

Brian Wood’s The Massive now enters new waters, pun intended, and by the end of issue #17 we move from ocean to land to see Israel with nothing to lose and a mentality that raises the stakes to their highest level. Wood first returns us back to 2004 and Callum Israel’s trail in Norway to fight charges of plots against the oil, chemical and whaling industries which serves to shed more light on Israel’s past and those he fights against. By the end of the flashback we see how dangerous those in the big industries, namely Bors Bergsen, really are and some of the true danger Israel and his crew face.

The majority of the issue focuses on the battle between the Ninth Wave and a fleet of longboat whalers. High tech vs no-tech and it’s a great contrast as the Ninth Wave is considered the underdog to Bors and the old-school whalers. It’s an interesting fight Wood constructs and by the end it seems as though there was very little fight to be had. The whalers devise one last slap in the face to Israel and the Ninth Wave and it will set the stage for one last deadly fight between Bors and Israel.

Garry Brown’s art and Jordie Bellaire’s colors set the stage of a cold brutal battle that Israel and Bors engage. You can feel the rough edges with Brown’s work and Bellaire’s monotone color schemes during the flashbacks and at key points in the story really sell the effect they should have on the reader. Bors is illustrated in such a way that the years of whaling in frigid Norway is etched into every line and crevice of his face and feels every bit the dominant force he is portrayed to be.

In the end Callum Israel is finally pushed to his breaking point and the results will not be pretty. For someone who has endured the life of Israel it seems as though his breaking point would have hit a long time ago but now that’s its here it’s beyond destructive and we see Callum in a new light for better or worse. When it comes to someone who has nothing more to lose, there’s no one more dangerous. Wood tells a great story and The Massive is a true testament of that story telling. If you want something non-traditional in the medium of comics this would be a great place to look. The Massive gets my highest recommendation.

4/5