October 1994 - April 1995
Richard Emond - inker
Charles Marshall - writer
Tomoka Saito - letterer
John Tobias, Mark Paniccia- editor
Patrick Rolo - penciler
Scott Christian Sava / Janice Wismar / Violent Hues -colourist
The issue kicks off with Johnny Cage attempting to work out why he's been left upside amongst broken pottery. Whilst he is a Hollywood star, this is no Hollywood party, as he recollects that he is fighting for his life in Moral Kombat. By the power of monologue, Cage gets the reader caught up to speed, before launching himself back into the fray.
Shang Tsung watches on with amusement, and though he spares a thought for the missing Goro, his attention is on the plot device for the series, The Tao Ze Zhan. In one confusing panel, Tsung awaits Baraka to be horribly electrocuted before attacking Rayden (still?) and gaining control of the book at long last.
....into the waiting hands of Goro. The Four-Armed Monster solves the final riddle without breaking a sweat, and is instantly given the powers of the god themselves.
Shang paps his britches almost as instantly.
Shang suggests teaming his powers with Rayden to removes the Tao Ze Zhan from Goro, as with that power, Goro could never be trusted. Everybody piles in, and the united energies manage to removes the power from a squealing begging Goro.
God damn, I missed Goro and his overblown way of speaking. Which, in this comic is really saying something. Goro having the power taken away is actually very well done, his pleading and begging comes across as very heartfelt. However, this final issue only really serves the purpose of introducing the MKII characters into the fray, which is it's biggest downfall. The over-arching story of the series has only been one of getting characters to fight which, granted, may seem an odd complaint given the source material. However, at the same time as this, Manga UK was also reprinting the Street Fighter 2 Manga (rarer than hen's teeth these days) which took those characters and fleshed out an incredible back story and world. The Mortal Kombat series comes tantalisingly close so many times to achieving these, but constantly reverts back to some of the worst tropes of the media in the 90s. That being said, I truly love the pencils of Patrick Rolo, and no matter what else, his work elevates this series way above what the writing would have it be.
There we go, seven days of Mortal Kombat: Blood and Thunder. Komix X-treme will go to being a weekly / bi-weekly post from this point out, as I take a look at other comics the decade put out. And don't worry, It won't be long until we return to Mortal Kombat, as we still don't know the story of where Goro went........
Until next time, I remain,