What’s fantastic about the character of Oxymoron is that he’s the Joker if he were allowed to be the Joker all the time. I know you’re like, “What does that even mean?” You see, in this reviewer’s opinion the Joker is a protected DC character. Sure we all love when he’s crazy and doing crazy things, but in this overly sensitive world we’re living in DC can’t really have him do anything that’s ripped from the headlines and relatively safe with his actions. He has to be comic booky and though they love to let him go off some in the movies, the comics is a different story. Frankly, he’s just not scary anymore. But Oxymoron… he scares the shit out of me.
The first issue was great. There was a great twist to the story and we began to see the emergence of Oxymoron. This issue, he makes his presence known. The issue begins with Oxymoron in bed with a news reporter… fucking awesome. He’s not invited which makes the interaction is great. The reporter, scared out of her mind answers his questions with a yes or no. There’s no screwing around, this woman is scared for her life and following directions. Loved it. Finally, a character in a comprising position that isn’t sassy and spits in the wind. I don’t care who you are in that situation when you realize someone has not only gotten into your home, but into your bed… you’ll do what you’re told.
After that we see the aftermath of Oxy’s latest work of criminal masterminding. We check in with our fallen police officer that he’s taken a liking to and wouldn’t you know it… she’s been re-promoted to Detective due to the shortage in staff. There’s more, there’s a lot more, but so much of the charm of this story is reading it and seeing the pieces fall into place.
John Lees brings his best work to this story. I continue to enjoy his writing and wait for each new series. I’m frankly shocked that one of the big two haven’t tried to grab him or at the very least one of the smaller publishers. Their loss and frankly I’ll take him on more of the indie level so he continues to deliver great stories like this. His characterization of Oxymoron is fantastic. I clung to every word out of his mouth and all of it felt real and authentic. The rest of the characters are great and all, there wouldn’t be a story without them, but I couldn’t get enough of Oxy. He’s what I wanted Madder Red from Bedlam to be, but I’ll take Oxy any day.
The artwork is top notch. There’s so much detail and love put into this comic. The violence is just right and never gets to that point of being too much. In particular, when one of the characters are killed it was a gruesome, but a powerful scene. It showed how manipulative Oxy could be and wasn’t just violence for violence sake in a comic book. Since I reviewed the first issue, colorist Jules Rivera has joined the book. You should know her from Misfortune High (you should totally check that out), but here she’s producing some great coloring. I actually liked the book in black and white, but after seeing how much Rivera’s coloring adds to the story, I’m glad they picked her up to compliment Alex Cormack’s artwork.
Grab the first issue and get ready for the second issue. It somehow managed to impress me more than the first which was no easy feat.
Score: 5/5
Oxymoron: The Loveliest Nightmare #2 Story: Tyler James & John Lees Writer: John Lees Artist: Alex Cormack Colorist: Jules Rivera Publisher: ComixTribe Price: $3.99 Release Date: 11/21/15 Format: Mini-Series; Print