GFT Retrospective #58: 2011 Giant-Size (Sinbad Crossover Part 2)
Article by Sean Wilkinson,
feeling Retrospective
and confused.
This past week, the Elongated Muskrat (whose son--possibly--is a houseguest on Claim to Fame Season 2, but he could just as easily be a McMahon, a Trump, or a Bezos) decided that he hates birds or something, and changed Twitter to X. It still has the same URL, but the little bluebird of trashiness is now an X, just so everyone knows the rating of most of the content on the platform and what men will have to start calling their wives when they get caught scrolling through erotic cosplayers' accounts on it. I bring this up because there have been multiple times this week when I have gotten a recommendation alert from what I used to recognize as Twitter, and the icon makes me think it's from ComiXology, where I am currently re-reading my Zenescope content, like the issue I will be reviewing today.
But first, please remember to like and comment at the bottom of this post, Become A Ticketholder if you haven't already, help out my ad revenue as you read, and follow me on Tumblr, Reddit, Facebook, and Twitter for the latest news on my content.
GFT Giant-Size #2 (2011): Sinbad Crossover (Part 2)
As it turns out, Acacia and Doc Carou hired Jake and Sinbad to compete against each other to do the sailor's version of "the Kessel Run in twelve parsecs" (a.k.a. navigating through a Goldeneye 007 Aztec Temple trap of an island group known as Ahriman's Teeth, which Sinbad was the only one to ever successfully navigate, despite Jake's claims to the contrary), then have them go to the cyclops' island where the two groups ended up having to work together to kill it and retrieve its blood, then kill whichever crew got back to Santalista first so they could reanimate them as zombies with cyclops blood and steal their ship to take revenge on Caracas, Venezuela, for exiling them to Santalista because they were running Voodoo experiments on the locals. But Sinbad killed Carou, so Acacia threatened revenge on him instead, but she really just wanted to kill him so she could have him under her control and she doesn't want revenge because she apparently just brought Carou fully back from the dead between issues, but because she failed to kill Sinbad, she still needs his crew under her control as a way of controlling Sinbad so he can sail her through Ahriman's Teeth so she and Carou can use the gem she made out of cyclops blood to trap a "baby" sea serpent so they can free and control an ancient wizard's three-headed element dragon and use it to destroy Caracas.
Good.
Now, it's time for the best part of the trilogy to begin!
Belinda promises Salome that she and Baba Yaga will keep Sinbad safe in exchange for information on his whereabouts, and charm a roc (a mythical, giant bird) that gets them to Sinbad just as Acacia and Carou are about to take their awesome-looking, three-headed dragon and betray the legendary sailor to his death.
This is another great character showcase for Belinda, as we potentially see an anti-heroic side to her that we haven't seen since the last Giant-Size issue. Baba Yaga wants to go after the Cyclops Eye first, but Belinda suggests rescuing Sinbad from his zombified crew, keeping her promise to Salome, but playing it off like a strategic, calculated decision.
The battle that ensues between Sinbad, Baba Yaga, Belinda, and the zombie crew is as impressive as the last issue's fights, and features some minimalist banter between Sinbad and Belinda that is of higher maturity than the Annual's shock value prank-off dialogue, while also being palpable and mysterious and contributing to the near-timelessness of this event series.
We've gotten mentions in the exposition boxes throughout these past two issues of the death of Sinbad's father, the squandering of his inheritance, and the storied Seven Voyages (but not his fugitive status from the beginning of Eyes Of Fire or the search for the pieces of the Jericho Visor). The Annual also had dialogue mentions of Sinbad heading to Baghdad in search of a new crew (possibly placing this before the Sinbad series, as well?). But Belinda being referred to "not as a friend" by Sinbad here could imply the unseen events of the cancelled Lamp series that possibly resulted in Pots losing his voice, Belinda's meddling in Wilhelm's love life in The Three Snake Leaves, or any number of other untold stories that took place before Sinbad or during or after the cancelled, ongoing Sinbad series. Most signs point to this trilogy being set before Sinbad, but innumerably more could place it at any point thereafter.
Usually, I harp on Zenescope for not being able to nail down their continuity, or making their readers figure things out as they go, but I appreciate timelessness and mystery when they are used well, and Sinbad's brief exchange with Belinda tells so much with an intense staredown and so few words. It's amazing!
The ending panel doesn't hit as hard as the Annual's Curse Of the Black Pearl homage, and the Voodoo couple's plan is BVS: Dawn Of Justice-meets-Captain America: Civil War levels of convoluted, but the fight composition, character interactions, and the three-headed dragon made this a superior issue compared to the first part of the Crossover.
Next week, the trilogy concludes. But tomorrow, TBT 2023 revisits the war between Vampires and Lycans, and on Friday, I finally found a way to celebrate the biggest milestone of my non-professional career, so Stay Tuned for a review that's Just the Ticket.
And please remember to like and comment at the bottom of this post, Become A Ticketholder if you haven't already, help out my ad revenue as you read, and follow me on Tumblr, Reddit, Facebook, and Twitter for the latest news on my content.
Ticketmaster,
Out.
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