Previously…
Last month I reviewed Danny J. Quick and Christopher Hollers’ debut comic book Aceblade for their imprint 4th Wall Productions. The first issue was okay for their first excursion, so I decided to check out issue 2 and see if things were getting better and here’s what I’ve found.
Story
Our story begins where we left off, for real this time, our main character Terrell Durham aka Aceblade has just survived being riddled with automatic weapon fire and is laying in the bed of an acquaintance, who I’m assuming pulled him out of the ditch he was left to die in? She tells him she saw the owner of the club he fought at in the previous issue last night and Terrell decides to pay him a visit before he goes she gives him a hoodie and apparently some throwing knives to go visit Benjamin “Gutshot” O’sellis, the aforementioned club owner. What follows is an attack on Gutshots’ office by Terrell dressed in his Aceblade gear and a high-speed chase with the cops. While Aceblade is raising hell, Gutshot and his men are paying a visit to Terrell’s home where his pregnant wife Teresa and his dog Spike, who we didn’t learn about until just now, are waiting for him. Apparently, Gutshots’ men got there before Terrell did and planted a bomb. Which as you could’ve guessed destroys the home, killing his wife and dog in the process. Giving birth to Aceblade and his ride of vengeance.
Situation
The story continues the pace of issue one, which is fast, this starts off as a good thing and then slowly becomes a hindrance. The pacing of this issue is all over the place, a perfect example is when Aceblade breaks into Gutshot’s office and shakes down one of his employees what appears to be seconds after Gutshot, and company depart. Aceblade comes through the window roughs the guy up, then jumps out of the window, and somehow the cops are waiting outside for him. There is no way the cops could have been called by the man in Gutshot’s office and have arrived so quickly. Another thing is the mentality of the villains in the story, Gutshot a revered gangster and businessman, goes to Terrell’s house to retrieve money that the latter accepted through a fight. Gutshot encounter’s Terrell’s brother and the dog then leaves, but not before placing a bomb in their shed. If they’re looking for money, why would they blow up the house to find it? Why not just overpower the brother, kill the dog and take Terrell’s pregnant wife hostage until someone can locate the money for him? Also, if Terrell’s wife was so important to him, how come she wasn’t mentioned in issue 1?
Pictures
Vhon Remot reprises their role as an illustrator and does a passable job at bringing this book to life. The action scenes are still the best thing about this book, every strike, shot and slash is illustrated very well and the scene in which Aceblade leaps from the window in Gutshot’s office would make both Daredevil and Nightwing jealous. The coloring gives me an early 90’s vibe more “dark and muddy” versus “vibrant and alive”. This wouldn’t be a problem if the city they were in weren’t always so brilliantly lit by the sun or if we got more nighttime scenes.
Real
I really wanted to like this since I love vigilante and the obvious influence of Frank Miller’s Daredevil work is there, but this book seemed too rushed to actually execute what seemed to be a pretty good idea.
Purchase
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This review was written by Ra'Chaun Rogers on behalf of Concept Moon Studios. If you enjoy his comic reviews click here for more!
