Posted in: Comics | Tagged: gabriel ibarra nunez, graveland, HRL, kaiju, massimo rosi, scout comics, superheroes

Graveland #2 Review: Now Here's a Completely Different Story

With the response team dead, General Mills and the doctor decide that their only recourse is to wake up "Titan Amon Park," the progenitors for the super soldier unit that made up Operation Giant Strike. Amon fought in the Vietnam War and was injected with Cobra Serum, which made him a super soldier. However, he eventually turned on the U.S, and the military subdued him and put him in stasis until now.

After some convincing, some bloodshed, and some flashbacks, Amon Park agrees to help fight the Giants.

Graveland #2 feels like it should have been the first issue of the series. If the comic was supposed to be about Titan Amon, all of that nonsense about Operation Giant Strike and their catastrophic failure feels superfluous.

In fact, the Giants aren't even in this issue. The entire comic tells the backstory of Amon Park and what he does upon being awoken.

His animosity towards General Mills (yes, I noticed it too), isn't particularly well-explained. As a result, Amon just kind of looks like a raging monster instead of a compelling protagonist. Amon has other personality issues — his general apathy, his arrogance, and his overall aggressiveness — that make him come off like a complete douchebag and a half, too. In short, I'm not really made to care about him all that much. He feels two-dimensional, and that's not good for your lead character.

The random digression into him fighting someone else injected with the Cobra Serum, while an excuse for a fairly cool fight scene, feels especially pointless in the grand narrative of Graveland.

Gabriel Ibarra Nunez's artwork is still quite cool, and it gives the world a distinct atmosphere that feels distinct. The same drawback still applies, though; there are many scenes that feel obfuscated by the style. His colorwork holds up too though, and the comic looks great regardless.

Graveland #2 feels like a huge stepdown from the first issue. We have a different protagonist and a story that feels completely removed from that of the first issue. Unfortunately, I can't recommend this one. Hopefully, Graveland #3 will make the series enjoyable again.

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