Sheltered #2 Review

Last month, writer Ed Brisson and artist Johnnie Christmas got Sheltered off to a stellar start. Set in the backwoods of a generic American nowhere, the story follows a fanatical group of anti-government gun nuts who spend their days stockpiling firearms and food to survive the end of the world as they know it. The twist at the end of the issue turned the world of Sheltered on its head, but issue #2 isn't quite the strong follow-up I wanted it to be.

Admittedly, Brisson does have to deal with the messy aftermath of the previous issue's events before diving head first into more action-packed plotting. With Safe Haven's adults summarily killed off by their own children, there's more than one mess that needs to be cleaned up. For that reason, Sheltered #2 feels like one of those in-between issues that happens in many a serialized comic book. The questions put forth in the previous installment -- Why did the children turn to homicide? What will become of newcomer Victoria and her friend Hailey? -- have to be answered. For the most part, that's exactly what Brisson does.

What's missing is complex characterization. This is an issue that deals heavily in the logistics of plot, but it does so at the expense of the characters. We know that Lucas, the de facto leader of Safe Haven's patricidal teens, is the one calling the shots, but we're not given much of a glimpse into the inner workings of his mind. By the end of the issue, we see that Victoria's got more steel in her than one would have expected, but it would have been nice to see that level of strong characterization elsewhere.

Christmas' art is as energetic as it was in the first issue, even if the visuals have a slightly more rushed feel to them this time around. His use of space and proportions, however, is remarkably well played. Likewise, Shari Chankhamma's colors cleverly alternate between dark and light in a way that brings the bleak world of Safe Haven to life.

While the issue doesn't quite match the tightly plotted pace of the first, it's still a solid installment in a series with grade A premise.

Melissa Grey is a lover of all things cats, comics, and outer space. She can be found on MyIGN at MelissaGrey or lurking on Twitter @meligrey.

Source : ign[dot]com