Still not quite off the ground.
Creative Staff:
Story: Christopher Cantwell
Art: Martin Morazzo
Colors: Miroslav Mrva
What They Say:
She could fly, but then she blew up. Luna mourns the loss, unable to let go, while Bill Meigs returns to Chicago to secretly investigate the Flying Woman’s identity. Meanwhile, Eon-Def Industrial moves to put a cap on dangerous technology in hopes of avoiding federal prying eyes. And the Brewsters discover that Kido may not be as at peace as she claims.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The opening installment of She Could Fly had some interesting areas it tackled under Christopher Cantwell’s direction that was made more engaging through what Martin Morazzo and Miroslav Mrva did in giving it life. The focus on someone like Luna with her apparent mental health issues is intriguing as is her obsessiveness and how she copes with most things in general. But we also got some wider stories with a lot to offer through Bill and his research along with the obvious in the woman that was flying around. But like the first issue, we get more questions than answers here in the second and lots of teases of what’s to come. It’s well-executed all around like the first but it left me really wishing that we had gotten a little more meat to sink our teeth into in order for it to feel really grounded.
The stories kind of weave together in different ways and that makes for a complex kind of approach, which does work in the larger sense but left me wishing each story had a more focused approach individually so that it would connect more. With the explosion the last time around, Bill’s used his knowledge to get in to see what’s left after the Feds took most things and there are clues for him to focus on, which is going to eventually lead him to where he needs to be. For now, it’s a slow arc to get him to learn that Arc Systems may have been involved but before that we see him connecting with Verna a bit more as he reveals who he really is after being quite the rude ass to her for much of the story so far. I’m definitely curious to see if this turn something more but mostly I just keep expecting Verna to end up dead in a situation that goes bad involving Bill.
Luna’s struggle continues to be interesting and syncs up with Bill here by the end because she’s doing her own research that has got her looking into a woman named Mayura. That ties back to Arc as well but being a student gets her only so far. It’s complicated enough with how she’s sneaking out of school to do this and that burns her with her parents in the long run, on top of already causing other problems at home, which in turn is made worse by her grandmother wandering off and having her own mystical journey. It’s likely that there’s a connection to the two women and that her grandmother is seeing something for a reason as Luna herself continues to essentially alter reality from her own point of view, such as the school therapist looking like she has an oversized cat head. It’s intriguing and getting into some of Luna’s issues has me really wanting it to be explored in full to understand it more.
In Summary:
I’ll admit, I have no idea where this book is going. There are a couple of obvious places it could go and I wouldn’t be surprised by them but there are a lot of things happening seemingly randomly here while lacking a bigger picture through which to view it. Cantwell is providing for interesting pieces that I want to have fleshed out more so as to really understand them which will in turn really increase my enjoyment of the book. What we do get is intriguing and it has me curious but the structure of the narrative leaves me from frrom really fully invested in it. I like the non-standard aspects though, which makes my own relationship with the book complicated. There’s still a lot of potential here that I hope gets tapped into in a big way.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: August 8th, 2018
MSRP: $3.99
