Gateway #2 Review

After waking up dead in Purgatory, Jake Ryan didn’t take long to figure out things just weren’t right. Determined to get to the bottom of what exactly is going on, Ryan will risk his safety to see just exactly what he can find outside the “safety” of Hopetown.

Check out the official description from IDW:

Jake Ryan abandons the safety of Hope Town to explore the cold depths of the city proper. Will he adjust to the anarchic city of the dead? As he struggles to find the ghosts of his past, and confront old regrets, he will find that even in Purgatory some mistakes can follow you to the grave.

I’m trying to get a feel for just who Jake Ryan reminds me of. He’s a mishmash of heroes, but I can’t stop thinking of Mel Gibson’s Mad Max when I read the pages of the series. This issue sees Ryan get into the action a little bit and we start to get to see him a little more clearly. This issue sets up a LOT of things we can expect to pay off down the road.

I had one qualm with the first issue and that was writer Joe Halpin Sr.’s over-explanation of some seemingly obvious plot points. Issue #2 was also written by Joe Halpin Sr. and does a very nice job of moving along the narrative while giving us some new points to consider going forward. I enjoyed the first issue and felt the series has promise; this issue certainly left me with the idea that there’s even more going on in Hopetown than I first thought. We get our first look at a Dark Soul in action and get to see Jake come through with some heroics before deciding to head out of Hopetown. By the end of the issue Jake is set up as a real Mad Max type loner and is headed to inspect Freedom Town which looks very Mad Maxian too.

Juanfrancisco Moyano’s work continues to be incredibly impressive. Moyano can flat out draw comic books. His characters are awesome and I noticed more details in this issue than in the last. The closing panel of the book in which we get a peek at Freedom Town is really well-drawn and framed. Moyano is a talent, to be sure.

Not as gripping as issue #1, but solid in its own right.

3.5/5