“Whatever It Takes”
Creative Staff:
Story: James Patrick
Art: Rem Broo
Colors: Rem Broo
Letterer: Dave Sharpe
What They Say:
Stuck between a rock and a hard place, Michelle has taken another monster score. And while it’s old hat for her, her new crew has no idea what they’re in for. She’s vowed to get them out of this mess, whatever it takes and whatever it costs her. A couple of familiar faces also pop in to lend a hand – Michelle is going to need all the help she can get.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The original Kaiju Score series was a whole lot of fun that writer James Patrick put together that I do hope makes its journey across the multimedia world. The series worked well with its brevity and it left me wanting more to see where it would go. With this sequel series, things move in a new direction and it’s building on what came before but without repeating things as Patrick looks to expand our understanding of this world. Thankfully, the team is back together with Rem Broo on the art duties as he gets to put together a great-looking book with some really great action material across the board. The character designs are great, I love the flair of the action that we get, and the coloring is spot on for this work.
With some of the basics set up and introductions in the opening installment, this one shows that the plan is getting a lot more complicated. Part of it is the dueling bounties that are going on as Michelle is doing her best to protect her team but she doesn’t have the financial resources of her opponent, who has raised the stakes. Tha eventually forces her to call in for some support that will really cost her down the line but it helps to temporarily ease things. But the reality is that her crew, who are in a mild panic to some degree, are full-on targets. I do like that most of them are coming onto the idea that this is their chance to step up to the big leagues after all of this rather than just sticking to the softball league. Michelle has played in the big leagues and understands the real danger and has been trying to avoid that, but these circumstances have really forced her hand.
We do get a clearer look at what has to happen in order to get the treasure from Prodathu and it’s pretty nuts with all the moving pieces, which is part of the intended larger goal here. But it works well to motivate everyone to figuring out how to solve it. And for fans of the first series, it brings Marco back in for a bit as Michelle visits him to get help in drawing up one of his crazy yet workable plans. One that won’t have him actively involved, which should help it go off better. Michelle gets a good bit of narration across this issue but it works well as the team leader to showcase how she’s trying to balance all of these things and make it work so they can come out ahead in the end. Her time with Marco reminds us of bigger things that can come from her life, though it requires surviving all of this and chances really are low. But it’s setting up the fun of the heist itself really well and you know it’s only going to get crazier as we learn more of how they’re going to have to roll with it.
In Summary:
The second Kaiju Score series is ramping things up well and the tease of the kaiju delivers here, though I’ll admit that I’m sure some readers are wishing for more kaiju. But for me, it was trying to understand how things like this would operate in a world where there are kaiju. What kind of heists there would be, the new complications that come from it, and the new kinds of scores that can be achieved. Patrick is delivering a really engaging score here that’s part of a bigger game and Broo once again delivers a great look for it, whether showcasing the plan itself or just focusing on the way the characters move and interact through dialogue and exposition. I’m eager to see more of this run.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: AfterShock Comics
Release Date: May 18th, 2022
MSRP: $3.99
