It’s strange to me. Medic shares a lot of the same universe space as other Double Take titles and yet it doesn’t feel as impactful as those titles. Rise and Slab definitely have a bigger universe impact than Medic and you’d think that it would be all three. Much like Honor, Medic #2 improves. This wasn’t my favorite series from the first bunch of issues. Thankfully the story seems to shift over to different characters rather than sticking with our oversharing Doctor. Unfortunately, he’s been replaced by another doctor that is telling a story that may actually have something to do with her background. It just doesn’t fit in with the rest of the issue. Dr. Grimes is on the receiving end of the story and he seems a little out of character in those moments.
They check out the morgue situation which is half completed in Honor. It’s strange because you really should read both issues back to back. We also see the invisible person show up again in this issue. Here we can tell that it’s a woman, but the art is pretty tricky about sneaking her in. The other story aspect we have which also ties into Honor, is the injured couple that was brought in. The husband wakes up and kisses the wife and she wakes as well. Then they start going into other people’s rooms and soon enough we see the gang of people we saw on the road in Honor. I’m very curious about this group with a hive mind.
Other than the story from the new doctor, the issue is pretty damn good. I like Dr. Grimes and his no-nonsense ways as he shouts orders to people and I wish this was another opportunity for him to be himself, but it wasn’t. I get that he basically has his own book, but then I would have limited his page appearances more.
The art struggles as well. I’m finding that any time there’s two artists it tends to not work out. One artist tends to have a lack of details, while the other one has a great amount of details. Whichever artist has a lot of detail does a great job. Those pages/panels are beautiful. The other panels… not so much. It’s not that they’re bad, but they don’t match. They either need to mime each other’s style or just have one artist. It’s unfortunate, but I couldn’t really get into the art because of this.
I think this series improved from the first issue for sure. I’m not really sure who the main characters are supposed to be and it would be nice if this series caught up to Rise since it feels behind. I do like that it ties into Honor so much though. It makes them feel like companion series and that’s actually okay in my book. They stand on their own, but your reading experience is enriched by reading both. I’ll give it another issue for sure, but I hope that weaker aspects are addressed and adjustments made. I know it won’t happen overnight in one issue, but some change is needed to make this a stronger title overall.
Score: 3/5
Medic #2 – “Undead On Arrival” Story: Bill Jemas Script: Bill Jemas, Bobby Stoddard, Michael Coast Layouts: Stan Chou, Julian Rowe Pencils: Stan Chou, Marco Castiello Publisher: Double Take Comics Price: $2.50 Release Date: 11/11/15 Format: Ongoing; Print/Digital