A Righteous Thirst for Vengeance #2

A Righteous Thirst For Vengeance #2

Image Comics/Giant Generator 2021

Written by Rick Remender

Illustrated by André Lima Araújo

Coloured by Chris O’Halloran

Lettered by Rus Wooton

Sonny digs into the dark web to discover the Blue Jackal’s next victim. He soon realises he is not the only man on the job.

Well this is certainly living up to my expectations after the first issue, heck it may even surpass those expectations. I mean there are more sides to Sonny than I was expecting to see and I like this. Almost as much as I like that André really takes the lead here in bringing Rick’s story to life with so few words. I have said that an exceptional artist is able to take the story and convey the meaning without having words on the page and here we see this being more than proven true and I am completely enamoured by the synergy we see with all these creators working together. I am starting to have a sneaky suspicion about Sonny and I’m excited to see where this is heading and hopefully I’ll either be right or completely wrong, either way it’s part of being so super engaged in a story that you think off page, see avenues where there may be none and are certainly more than invested in what we see. All of this is the power of great storytelling.

There is something about the way that this is being told that really strikes a chord with me. The story & plot development we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented exceptionally well. The character development that we see through the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter really does a magnificent job here. The pacing is amazing and as it takes us through the pages introducing new characters and how we see the twists & turns take shape is so incredibly well rendered.

I’m very much enjoying the way that we see this being structured and how the layers continue to emerge, grow, evolve and strengthen. I also like the way that these layers open up new avenues to be explored and how they add this fantastic depth, dimension and complexity to the story. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward are impeccably handled.

The interiors here are full of dichotomies, soft yet strong, delicate yet bold all combine to create this bloody beautiful work. It is so expressive and how we see the faces, facial expressions and body language does wonders in helping us understand the characters and the moments. While I would like to see backgrounds in almost every panel however, the strength of the work alone stands up when we don’t see them. The way they enhance and expand the moments are perfectly done and how we see them in the composition of the panels as they bring out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels shows a masterful eye for storytelling. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work shows an exceptional eye for how colour works and how to maximise their effects.

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Secrets revealed, more unanswered questions arise and the story starts to take a direction, what or which direction well you’ll have to read the story to find that out but I’m sure we’re not all going to agree where things are heading. I found myself really getting into this book a lot more than I had anticipated and there’s a mystery and mystique surrounding it that I find irresistibly charming. This is a stunning display of teamwork through the story direction, writing, interior artwork and the lettering.