Shrugged (vol.2) #1 Review


Is the latest continuation of the quirky but entertaining franchise worth your time? Read on to find out.

The official description from Aspen:

Theo and his friends are entering their final year of high school, and even though Ange and Dev are still along for the ride, a host of new characters have joined in on the adventure! But, everything isn’t all fun and games this time around as an evil force has also returned and is preparing to silence those voices inside their heads…permanently. If you thought you knew what fear was, you haven’t seen anything yet!

What we have here is the start of the second volume of Shrugged, and the question facing the franchise at this juncture is whether or not it’s still something that needs to be owned?  Truth is this release spends a good deal of time retreading the closing beats of the previous iteration as it attempts to set things in motion in order to cement a direction for any potentially new readers.

Frank Mastromauro masterfully pens this outlandish but nonetheless enthralling yarn.  He effortlessly realizes some characteristic moments in high school life while playing with both their nefarious and wholesome perspectives.  There are quite a few moments where the text itself seems to be a bit too wordy, causing the pace to be buried under its weight.  But in the end a more than competent author carries this odyssey to a rather satisfying cliffhanger.

From a purely visual standpoint the work done by Jonathan Marks and Micah Gunnell is second to none.  As onlookers casually flip through these pages you literally could not ask for a better pairing, as the duo successfully brings this zany romp to life.  They create and mold some out of this world locations while still anchoring each fantastical element with a peak at our reality.  All and all each pencil stroke adds to the quality of this book without detracting from the story itself.

Shrugged (vol.2) #1 is an text heavy but nonetheless enthralling ride that’s sure to attract an audience as it pleases established fanboys and fangirls.  Recommended.

4/5

 

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