If you remember Escape from New York and its less than stellar sequel, Escape from L.A., you will remember Kurt Russell’s portrayal of the lead character Snake Plissken. His anti-heroic heroic methods have garnered a cult status, and have facilitated the mainstream success of grey characters, (not purely good, not purely evil guy), like anti-heroes as Stone Cold Steve Austin and future action hero, The Rock.

     Snake Plissken's lure remains even after Escape from L.A., and in an era where everything once good is making a return, the gritty, underground, rebel hero comes back in a big way. Kurt Russell’s character and John Carpenter’s creation will be featured prominently in several novels, an anime movie, a videogame and ah, yes…the comic book.

     Brought to you by the creators of Violent Messiahs, Hurricane Entertainment has teamed with comic book media darlings, Crossgen Entertainment to bring fans the further adventures of Snake Plissken. And like the first movie, and much unlike the second, this series promises to be one hell of a ride!

     Known for combining awesome, realistic and detailed art with great storytelling, Hurricane Entertainment has created a saga that will certainly please fans without alienating those who lived under a rock and never saw either one (however, missing the second one can be forgiven). Such a great job was done tying the old and the new of the Plissken saga, readers can gather much of what is needed to know about the original story in the first issue. In short, Snake is one bad ass dude who is not a hero, but a down and dirty criminal that likes to buck the system and ends up doing heroic things out of necessity and not because he cares.

     Set in Atlantic City, Snake Plissken is out to get the money, which is still viable in this lawless world he lives in. In order to complete his mission, he must trust a group of people. Which of course leads to Plissken being set up by his ohorts and left dead in a scene that strangely reminded me of an old Adam West Batman show, only much darker in nature.

     That dark tone is set by artists, Tone Rodriguez (maybe that’s how he got his name), who makes Plissken look as real as he does in the films. Rodriguez presents that dark and dirty atmosphere that Plissken adapted to so well on the big screen and transfers it perfectly to print with a complimentary flow of action and William O’Neill’s fantastic storytelling, making this book one adrenaline rush after another.

     The Snake Plissken Chronicles stays true to the movies, presenting that lawless future that doesn’t journey too far away from our own reality. While not as ground breaking as Escape from New York, The Snake Plissken Chronicles puts the fun back into comics without skimping on the art and story. One of the most complete comics out there, this latest Hurricane Entertainment series stays true to its roots while looking to the future and working on developing a character that will never die.

     There are just some characters made for comics. Snake Plissken fits right in.

     Send your comments and or questions about this article to Blackhart@ybfree.com.

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