The first issue of Limbo introduced us to a strange world full of supernatural elements wrapped around P.I. tropes. It was successful in the tropes, but also successful in making them interesting. Clay, our P.I. with amnesia, has captured the evidence he needs to put a mobster away and to save his client. He pops in the VHS and watches the footage to make sure he captured the events when he sees someone that wasn’t there before. The crazy thing is that this dude turns around and looks at him… and then pulls him into the TV. We meet the mobster’s Teleshaman. That’s right, Teleshaman which is one of the best made up terms I’ve heard all year. He’s sucked Clay into the televerse and we see a lot of great homage to the 80s which is a big influence on this world as almost everyone uses analog technology. The majority of the issue is spent in the televerse with Claying fighting for survival until he can get his landlord Sandy to help him out. We learn a little about her and Clay gets another creepy phone call.

Though this issue didn’t explore the interesting world that was introduced to us last time, I still really enjoyed the issue. Clay’s journey was interesting and full of great references to the past. I wouldn’t say there’s character development for Clay in this issue per say, but his landlord Sandy is developed more and it’s clear she knows something about Clay that he doesn’t.

The use of analog technology with magic is great. Sandy prays to cassette tapes and they come out as a man in a top hat smoking a pipe. It’s very cool looking, as is the televerse. Anything that can reference Max Headroom is okay in my book, but that’s the kind of cool references made during these scenes. It does make me wonder if this “limbo” that Clay is in, is in the past or something. It’s interesting either way.

The artwork continues to be great. The splash page of Clay going through a ton of TV shows is a visual treat for sure. Then there’s the video game reference which was killer as well. But what’s really impressive is how Caspar Wijngaard handles the televerse. There’s moments when Clay is looking out from a TV and then others when Sandy is looking in. The perspectives are never wrong and it’s very convincing. It really looks like Clay is trapped inside of a TV and it felt 80s horror inspired.

This second issue definitely stacks up to the first issue which is a good thing. I’ll save my usual rant about second issues, but I will say that Limbo’s sophomore issue has been enjoyable and set the stage for me to return for the next issue. Which is basically all you can really ask for from readers.

Score: 4/5

Limbo #2 Writer: Dan Watters Artist: Caspar Wijngaard Publisher: Image Comics Price: $2.99 Release Date: 12/9/15 Format: Ongoing; Print/Digital