It’s origin time in the world of the Motorcycle Samurai as Chris Sheridan delves into the mysterious past of the White Bolt to give us an insight into her beginnings in this San Diego Comic Con exclusive: Motorcycle Samurai: Variable.

Publisher: Top Shelf Digital
Writer/Artist: Chris Sheridan
Price: Free from ComiXology

After the climactic events of issue 3 Chris Sheridan’s Motorcycle Samurai, we are in more contemplative mood with this San Diego Comic Con exclusive freebie as we look back at the early days of the White Bolt. Told via a kids puppet show, it does a superb job of filling in some of the Bolt’s back story but without giving too much away, continuing to keep this character and her actual motives as elusive as ever.

Set before the events of issue 0, the puppet show is run by the sinister Mr Rogers and his partner Mr Waid, who extort money out of the excited kids who watch their show. Once finished, Misters Roger and Waid are confronted by the Bolt herself, who is looking for their partner Happy (who you’ll remember from issues #0 and #1) and when they fail to co-operate Bolt dispatches her own brand of frontier justice on them. If anything this is as telling a part of the origin story as the puppet show itself and reminds us that at her core, the Bolt is a kick ass enigmatic bounty hunter, and isn’t it more interesting that she remains that way? In a way both Sheridan and Rogers are mythologising Bolt beginnings, creating an exciting and dynamic origin for the character which is still always shrouded in mystery, which makes the whole series much more intriguing as Sheridan keeps his character cards close to his chest.

As always with Motorcycle Samurai, Sheridan’s loose and expressive line work is from the top drawer and the use of Guided View is subtle and smart, with Sheridan never afraid to make his panels run out of sequence to make his books feel so much more than just a straight page turner.

Although there isn’t much in terms of story progression and development in this book, and nothing as earth shattering or ground-breaking as the last full issue, you can’t expect that every time and this is a freebie one shot rather than a full issue so you can’t really blame them for not giving away everything for free. At the end of the day this latest instalment is both a perfect sampler of this outstanding series for new fans, as well as being a nice stop gap for those fans who cannot wait for the next instalment.

“Another superb chapter of one of the best digital comics around! This enigmatic take on the White Bolt’s origin story still leaves plenty of questions unanswered at the end, making her even more intriguing than before. Motorcycle Samurai: Variable is the perfect jumping on point for new fans, and has more than enough of Sheridan’s highly original art and story-telling to keep the dedicated fans happy as well. And did we mention it’s free too?!”