Winter reviews at my Bookshelf blog #4: Shakara

[Grant Goggans]

A contentious one this week, friends.  It's the second collected edition of Shakara, which everybody liked more than I did.

[The Adventurer]

Shakara is emphaticly one of my favorite 2000 AD serials. Probably in no small part due to its run being a central component in the period that I defined myself as a fan of 2000 AD. The crazy alien and tech designs of Henry Flint in no small part embodying everything 2000 AD can be at its best; unpredictable, unflinching, and bizarre.

Personally I enjoyed the roller coaster that was Shakara's last act. Cinnabar Brenneka being a typical mustache twirling baddie waiting to be undone by his own hubris was a bit threadbare as far as characterization goes (that star eyed guy from Book 2 was a lot more nuanced...  even if I can't recall his name at the moment). But Shakara was never really about the story. That was just an excuse.

[Colin YNWA]

As ever a really interesting take on things but likewise as ever (or more correctly, often) I find myself on the opposite end of the spectrum to Grant. Really what The Adventurer said though I would stand by the fact that while the story might seem an excuse and Shakara's all about the execution I really thing the story across the piece holds up. One of my favourite thrills of the last few years and I really must find time to sit down and read it all in one go...

[Greg M.]

My view on this is also quite different from Grant's - I would personally cite the arrival of Cinnabar Brenneka (and Eva) as when the series really finds its feet and moves from merely good to great to mind-blowingly superb by the final story, which, with Dante, has to rate as the best thing in 2000AD in the last few years. More Robbie Morrison original creations in the prog, I say - with both these series put conclusively to bed, I do hope he's working on something to fill the significant gap their absence has created.

[Zarjazzer]

I still think it's one of the most original looking of any twoofy series.