On the run, Critter continues to try and do the right thing as others push back against him.
What They Say:
With their mysterious campaign for vengeance uncovered, the team is forced to fight on their own turf as Dr. Gaghen’s troops swarm the abandoned school. Critter’s down – who’s next?
It’s a desperate struggle for survival that will leave permanent scars on both sides, and force long-buried secrets to rise…
The Review:
The first issue of Freakshow was an interesting experience as I really liked the visual design of it, but the somewhat disjointed nature of the execution of the storyline made it a difficult read at first. When you got further into it, things started to click more as you got a handle on things. With the second issue, that feeling is there once again as we’re thrown into the action side quickly with characters that are still hard to connect with in a way because of the nature of the story, but as it gets closer to the end and starts to settle down into a bit of exposition, we start to feel connected again. Of course, it doesn’t take too long until you hit the end of the book, but this segment goes a long way again towards showing the interesting story that’s at play here. Three issues still seems like it’s not enough time to really flesh this out with the buildup it needs to get us into the characters.
A good part of this issue deals with the fallout from the attack the group is under now that Critter let one of them live and she led them right back to them. The attack went pretty badly for all of them, with one of them even losing his hand which is then held by the attackers so they can study it back in the lab. Critter continues to try and be the conscience of the group as he insists that even though things went badly, he did the right thing. And that they can fight back while not killing anyone to show that they are doing the right thing. Some are swayed a bit by what’s said and want to try it his way, but Stronghold wants none of it. With him as the leader, as the one who gave them their names and their masks, he wants nothing but blood in the street because of what’s happened and is ready to kill Critter himself because of it.
The fighting does go back and forth a bit, but it’s an interesting point when Critter himself gets caught during it and he gets to spend some time with the woman he saved. She’s there to interrogate him, but it turns into a moment where he speaks the truth about what happened in this city, something that goes against what she knows, but it’s something that she can tell feels like the truth and has that ring of believability about it as Critter makes it plain. His insistence that they’re not heroes is welcome, though most of them want to do right, but they’ve all suffered huge losses because of what happened with the death of Vanguard and the fallout within the city itself. As we start to get more of a look at what they have lost, especially with Critter, it says a lot about him that he’s still trying to do the right thing even as Stronghold gets more serious about getting even with the scientist behind it all.
In Summary:
The first issue of Freakshow had me interested from the first with its style of art but it took some time for the storyline to get going. This issue follows the same path, for better or worse, as I like the oppressive nature of the artwork and how it feels so intense throughout even when they’re just talking in the shadows. When it gets to the exposition, it expands on what we know while reinforcing the things we do know in a way that makes it resonate more. Critter as the central focus is the right way to go as he’s the heart of the book and we get to see all sides of the story because of him. What continues to draw me to the book is the way that those that are basically considered the heroes even though others don’t see them that way are basically all science experiments at this point and are still being put through the process. The story progresses here but it doesn’t stray much from what made the first issue both enjoyable and something of a challenge to read and enjoy.
Grade: B
