I definitely enjoyed the first issue of Remote. I wondered how it could go on and what more the story could possibly do, but I wasn’t going to miss the second issue. I’m glad I didn’t. The second issue of Remote is better in every way possible. The art has improved a lot, but also the story reveals what we can expect from it going forward. This issue establishes the main character Samantha Stanton as a total bad ass. We saw her trapped in the booth last time with a horde of zombies outside of the glass. I wondered how she would get out of that scenario and apparently it’s by training the zombies. That is what is unique about these different titles. They tend to reveal a different piece of the puzzle. In Remote, we learn that they can be taught. That they’re not completely mindless. Later on, Samantha teaches one of them to play a commercial in order to receive candy. It’s funny and brilliant because she’s still the only one on the air.
Her boss makes another call and this time has actual concern for her still being there. He changes his location again, but we see that he’s still just banging women. After that he pretty much gives her free reign on the radio because their ratings are through the roof.
I like this series. I like where it’s going and how it’s establishing Samantha as a powerful character. I can see her role in this shared universe having a major role in the issues to come. I’m very curious to see where she ends up after the timeline jumps. The writing is pretty simple. There’s really only the dialogue between Samantha and her boss and the rest is just her dodging zombies to get her job done. It’s simple, but very effective storytelling.
The art has improved from the first issue which is a good thing. This was the one series that struggled the most artistically for me last time. It had a great style, but there were several panels that just looked bad or incomplete. This time around there’s more detail to the art and the character designs are cleaner and memorable.
I love the cover for this issue. Sure it’s selling a bit of sex, but it’s very iconic and in a way its showing what’s happening to Samantha’s career. Larger than life and the American Dream. The iconography of it is very strong and gives me the impression that this character will be around for a while. That and the cover has that great stock still, which I will continue to point out because I think a lot of publishers are just being cheap and could deliver a better print product rather than trying to force people to digital through shitty paper quality.
I’ll be back for more of Remote. This book had one of the biggest jumps in quality and I no longer doubt it’s potential to do interesting things and develop this character trapped in one location. If anything, I respect that they’re able to do so much with those limitations. Check it out if you haven’t already.
Score: 4/5
Remote #2 – “Radio Silence” Story: Bill Jemas, Gabe Yocum Script: Bill Jemas, Michael Coast, Michaela Murphy Layouts: Young Heller, Julian Rowe Pencils: Young Heller Publisher: Double Take Comics Price: $2.50 Release Date: 11/11/15 Format: Ongoing; Print/Digital