This Damned Band #2 has too much of the same gag as the first. I liked the first issue of this comic. One of the reasons I liked it so much was that it did a good job of capturing the pacing of a mockumentary in comic form. The latter pages of the comic wherein the band descends into an ambiguous mix of mushrooms and hellfire made for an entertaining contrast to the intentionally rote and familiar pacing of following around a band full of British douches.

But what worked about the first issue was something that, to me, only works for a first issue, and probably shouldn't be recycled. You see, this comic aims to mix the intentionally blasé with the hellish, bridging those two things with help from the psychedelic. Issue one ushered us into a world we thought we understood and quickly pulled the rug out from under the reader.

Yet rather than issue two taking advantage of the discombobulating consequences of the series' opening, the second issue is a diet version of the first. Like the first, you get a sizable dose of the documentary angle and then a hellish twist at the end; but, this one is less heavy-handed.

All of that is a problem. There isn't enough that's interesting about the documentary angle itself--especially since it's not playing at interesting as much as it's playing at parody--to make most of the issue entertaining. The small twist at the end is the only thing that moves the plot forward in the entire issue. Maybe the characters get a little more fleshed out, but I don't have much of a reason to care if the conflict is moving at a snail's pace.

The dragging plot in this issue is made extra disappointing because it doesn't allow artist Parker to strut his stuff. Though he often simplifies his style for the sake of a running gag that's worth a few laughs, I want some god damn monsters. And, I'm not sure there's any good reason why this issue needed to exclude them in favor of moving the story as slowly as it did.

I'm not convinced that this title is beyond salvation, but this particular issue was a big miss for me.

Score: 2/5

This Damned Band #2 Writer: Paul Cornell Artist: Tony Parker Colorist: Lovern Kindzierski Publisher: Dark Horse Comics Price: $3.99 Release Date: 9/2/15 Format: Mini-Series, Print/Digital