By Dustin Cabeal
Well, I’m way late to the party, but I’m still reviewing the second issue of Black Hand, Iron Head. This story is interesting. The second issue was a lot goofier than the first issue, and so I don’t quite understand the tone of the series. I liked the tone of this comic though, and I find it interesting the pairing of the sisters.
Black Hand is considered a super villain, but she’s more like if Malcolm X had super powers. Iron Head, is so naive and relatable. If there’s a character I relate to in this story, it’s Iron Head. The ladies end up in the hospital after the funeral shenanigans, Alexia (Iron Head) is angry for obvious reasons, but her uncle tells her to go and say sorry… because they’re sisters. This starts this complex relationship between them in which Alexia does want some kind of connection to Amy, but Amy just wants her mom’s car and money. The thing is, Amy’s a softy for Alexia after she breaks down in front of her. This is after her uncle is arrested for draining the bank accounts and some other doctor dude is being blamed for stealing all the bad ass weapons in the museum.
There’s more going on in this story that we know of right now. Alexia is so in the dark that she’s not much help to us as a reader which is why Amy’s balance is important. There needs to be someone with life experience to yell out what we’re all thinking. David Lopez does quite well with the dialogue, but the main characters are leaps and bounds better than the rest of the cast at the moment.
The only other problem that I have with the story is that there’s still not a great sense of the rest of the world. We’ve been in Alexia’s bubble the entire time. While it seems like the story is about to venture out into the real world, for now, it’s been all “tell’.
Lopez’s artwork is a thing of beauty. It’s why I wanted to write this review because just the art alone is deserving of praise. Aside from the detailed characters with realistic body shapes, there’s the coloring. The coloring by Nayoung Kim is stunning. The lighting effects are perfect, and there’s yet to be a shadow that feels out of place. That and I absolutely love that Amy’s outfit is an homage to the Joker, but just an extra sense of style and flair to it.
You can pay what you want for Black Hand, Iron Head because it’s on the Panel Syndicate platform. It took a bit for the second issue to release so consider throwing in a few bucks for a superhero story with some familiarity to it, but with a world of personality that’s rarely seen in the genre. That and the art is just delicious eye candy that will give you an amazing tooth ache.
Score: 4/5
Black Hand, Iron Head #2
Panel Syndicate