Exploring Chuck’s luck.
Creative Staff:
Story: Leia Gwenn
Art: Matthew Dow Smith
Colors: Kelly Fitzpatrick
Letterer: Frank Cvetkovic
What They Say:
A broken mirror gets you seven years of bad luck. Salt was thought to have the same preservative effect on friendship as it had on food, so spilling it was a bad omen. We all know a black cat crossing your path is bad luck, but did you know an upside-down horseshoe represents good fortune spilling out on the ground? Charlene ”Chuck” Manchester hires out her bad luck, providing disaster where someone else can profit. While her enemies rally to take her down, Chuck sees a way out with her new heiress sidekick. But sometimes her own bad luck is not enough, and Chuck needs to really tempt fate to pay the rent . . .
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
While some of the narrative didn’t flow quite as much as I had liked in the first issue, Leia Gwenn provided a really fun book as it explored a neat twist on the whole bad luck angle. I liked how she introduced us to Chuck and the situation that’s going to throw her for a loop for this series as it blended a lot of good stuff together. It also worked out well as Matthew Dow Smith felt ideal for this project with his style and heavy line work. All of which was wonderfully accentuated tanks to Kelly Fitzpatrick on the colors, one of my favorite colorists in general. The team put together a good book that was fun and creative and you could see a lot of paths forward with. That made it very easy to come back for more.
With this issue, Gwenn goes a slightly different approach in how to deal with it. With X’s mother still intent on killing her, she’s doing her best to lie low with Chuck for a while. And that gives her the opportunity to ask a few questions. And, surprisingly, get some answers as Chukl is far more talktative than characters of this nature usually are. This leads us to a trio of tales across the book showing how she’s used them, from helping a fortune teller run a simple grift that went bad to dealing with a chain coffee shop that moved into an area where it wasn’t quite welcome. There’s a lot to like in these tales as you see the various levels and ways her power operates but also some of the quirks of it and her personality, such as avoiding the number thirteen at all costs because that is a highly combustible element of what makes her who she is.
But… there’s not a lot more the book than that. We get some good time exploring her place as her new arrival, again unnamed in this installment, takes it all in and asks the right questions. We do see her mother working through setting up for what’s to come, hiring a man named Sterling to go after her because she wants the money that’s in the trust fund, and we get a nod to how things in the police department are being handled as well. It’s definitely interesting in building to the larger point but in a monthly installment its problematic since so many people are unnamed, and stuff like that isn’t always memorable in a second issue of a new property. That said, the main focus is on Chuck and her exploits while the rest fills in some of what’s to come so it does tie together well enough.
In Summary:
Outside of the minor frustrating point of names, the second installment of Bad Luck Chuck slows things down sooner than I expected. That lets us get to really know her powers and how she operates without it being done in the traditional “on the run” style that we usually get so I definitely appreciate the hell out of that. Chuck’s got an interesting past from just the couple of things she talks about and I’m sure we’ll get a few more going forward. I like the general premise and the setup as we have it so far and this issue is a kind of breather, which is a surprise fro a second installment. But it works with the quirky nature of things and I’m still very interested in seeing how it all unfolds since it looks like Chuck really just may be capable of anything.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 15+
Released By: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: April 24th, 2019
MSRP: $3.99
