Written by: Chip Zdarsky
Art by: Kagan McLeod
Publisher: Image
… Oh Kaptara, never change.
So Kaptara continues with our loveable group of should-not-be-heroes on their way to a distress beacon left by Keith’s crashed ship. They hope to find some answers as well as the remaining survivors of Keith’s crew. They are, of course, stopped by an upset army of bee people who dress in silly suits and shoot lasers out of their fake laser butt stingers. Because this is Kaptara, none of that is surprising.
What is surprising is that Keith reunites with Laurette, a crew-mate from Issue 1 and someone I long thought dead. She thinks she’s discovered a way for everyone to return to Earth, which means it’s time to transition into phase two of this story arc.
Now in a normal comic, the above would be our entire plot. Keith and Laurette would spend the entirety working out equations, messing with alien equipment, and doing general “filler” antics for the payoff in Issue 5.
Thankfully, Kaptara is not a normal comic.
Instead, we’re treated to an issue almost entirely devoted to Dartor, the idiot barbarian momma’s boy who, as it turns out, cannot hold his alcohol. Crazy, stupid, hilarious antics ensue.
Like Issue 3, Issue 4 of Kaptara is funny. Full stop there. Also like Issue 3, Issue 4 isn’t reaching to lofty heights in terms of its humor. This comic is crass, vulgar, and honestly, really unpredictable. It’s that third thing that makes me like it so much though. I don’t know where this story is going to go, and I certainly don’t know what crazy wildlife Kaptara is going to deliver next. We had racist Smurfs last issue, and that means nothing is off limits.
Issue 3 gave us a nice look at Dartor and developed him a bit more, turning him into more than a caricature. Issue 4 doesn’t continue that. On the one hand, that’s disappointing, on the other, what he gets into this go around is so stupid and funny that I’m not sure I’d have wanted any more character development. He diverts back into what we’ve seen in Issues 1 and 2, and that’s alright. The positive is that, after Issue 3’s development, he’s less annoying. I rooted for him to succeed in everything he tried, even if that speaks ill of my own character.
Strangely, it is Keith that seems to be growing, even if he’s mostly in the background in this issue. During Issues 1 and 2, he was a sarcastic coward who kind of rubbed me the wrong way, but Kaptara is changing him for the better. I never thought I’d see him start to become something akin to noble, but noble he is turning. It’s a good thing though. I’m not sure I could handle a long-running series if I hated the main character.
Artistically, Kagan is on point as always. Kaptara continues to be filled with wonderful alien wildlife and monsters, and it delivers again. I will say, there were a few panels where Dartor looked a bit off, but they weren’t anything that took me out of the experience. Plus, he’s drunk through most of this issue, and we never look our best while drunk.
The bottom line is: If you’re cool with this kind of humor—vulgar, offensive, and immature—then you’ll like this series. Issue 4 does nothing but deliver on that, and at present, it continues to work.
