I called it. I know that I just read the last issue a few days ago, but I totally called it and you’ll have to read my review to understand what I’m talking about. This issue is about the same from the first issue. Same out of place swearing, great violence, but now our main character is a bit more unlikable. Happy the Horse manages to be pretty damn annoying as well, but still cute as a button and keeps the plot moving foward for the most part. Smoothie and his team are heading to Nick’s room where the drugs they gave him have started to take effect. Happy shouts in his ear to wake him up just as the door opens and Nick goes off on the group of people. It’s violent and bloody and definitely a great way to open the scene. You’ll probably notice that Nick has a double chin and has gained a lot of weight from the last issue, but we’ll get back to that later. After killing or maiming everyone in sight, Nick heads down to the lobby of the hospital and grabs a pot of coffee… and pants. He heads outside to find Maireadh waiting for him. She asks for the password and Nick tells her to fuck off and that there is no password.
As I said the story is about the same as the last nothing better or worse. There are two very typical story devices being used in this issue and I think that’s what is keeping the book from being great. The first one is that we all know that Nick killed the guy before getting the password and now we have to tolerate everyone chasing him for something he doesn’t have. It’s something that could be ended with a five minute phone call, but some jackass mobster assumed he knew something and now an entire city is chasing the main character. It’s a bit dumb really. The second is that we spend the second half of the issue proving that Happy is real to Nick only to have him be a total cocksucker. It really makes this issue only worth reading once.
The art is still good and Robertson has taken his time yet again with the amount of detail. His monthly work on The Boys had several issues that struggled with consistency, but that’s not the case here. What I couldn’t get over was why Nick was suddenly fatter. Not that it changed my view of the character, but it was very noticeable. The second page is basically the same as the last page in the first issue, but with a fatter Nick. I don’t know maybe he’s like Tim Allen in Santa Clause and getting fatter or something. Whatever the case it was distracting.
If you liked the first issue there is no reason not to finish the series and we can all basically expect it to be about the same from the beginning to end. More than likely our main character will die saving the little girl and if he doesn’t it might actually be surprising. Otherwise it’s an average book with top tier talent working on it. On the plus side the word “Fuck” is only used thirty-nine times in this issue.
Score: 3/5
Writer: Grant Morrison Artist: Darick Robertson Publisher: Image Comics Price: $2.99 Release Date: 10/31/12