Writer: Robert Venditti

Artist: Raul Allen & Patricia Martin

Art Assistant: David Astruga

Colorist: Borja Pindado

With Book of Death being in the rearview mirror, it’s interesting to see where the Valiant universe is going. With almost every book starting a new storyline (most last month), this is a perfect time for readers to jump on, and I would strongly encourage that. After the event, the big new book was Wrath of the Eternal Warrior, and Valiant did it right with one of their big writers and an all-star, at least to me, in Raul Allen on art. I really enjoyed issue 1, so grabbing this second issue was a no brainer.

After finishing it and thinking about the issue for quite some time, this second issue felt A LOT like a first issue. While I’m enjoying all the set up, and watching Gilad have to essentially lose his family over and over is crushing and effective, I’m not sure what the purpose of that first issue really was. Here, we got to see Gilad really begin his journey at the end of the issue, and we get a glimpse of the big bad going forward. Venditti is great with the character work, seeing the Eternal Warrior with his kids, especially seeing his eldest, who resents him, wish him well as he leaves for his journey, is really impactful. That being said, I’m still unsure on what the story we are taking is. I can see the bad we are going against, and I understand that The Eternal Warrior essentially exists to fight for the continuation of Earth, (via protecting the Geomancer) but I still don’t know what specifically Gilad is doing now, as he appears to be struggling back and forth between Death and his family, or life and saving Earth. I may just be fishing for something that isn’t there, and as I type it out, the book is in that journey I listed, but I just found myself wanting a little more I guess. All that being said, it appears that we are through the opening, and the meat of the journey should be forthcoming.

The main draw for this series for me was Raul Allen. After seeing him on an issue of Bloodshot Reborn, I’ve been highly anticipating his next move. With issue 1, I got everything I wanted, and studied each page thoroughly. While this issue is also really strong on the art front, it’s a SLIGHT downgrade from the previous issue. At first, I thought it was due to the art assists or something like that, but I think the biggest difference for me was the strength of the line from the previous issue. I found myself fixating on certain detail line-work that kind of drew me out, but when looking at the overall page, it’s still beautiful. It’s more than likely just incredibly nitpicky, and I’m more than willing to admit that I’m being so. I will say, Allen’s designs for the demons and the big bad we see in the end is really nice. With a style straight from the Paolo Rivera school, it’s hard to not enjoy this.

Even though it seems like I’m a little down on this issue, it’s a really awesome book. I’ll gladly be picking up the next issue, and I expect nothing short of fun and entertaining adventure going forward.

 

3.5 Demons out of 5