Legenderry #2
Bill Willingham - Writer
Sergio Fernandez Davila - Artist
Wes Hartman - Colorist
Rob Steen - Letters
Joe Benitez - Main Cover
Johnny Desjardins - Character Designs
The first issue of Legenderry got the story moving along nicely. It also featured a bunch of interesting characters, yet still managed to introduce everything with a well crafted and brisk pace. This installment spends a bit too much time on action sequences, but still retains the unique characterization that set things into motion very nicely. The novelty of seeing which hero is in which position is still very present in this tale, as author Bill Willingham so wonderfully plays on our expectations of what this story is actually going to be throughout this saga.
With all of the different assassins after Magna Spadarossa, the heroine must team up with the different heroes of the city to escape certain death. More importantly, this book serves as an excuse to introduce readers to people like Vampirella, Green Hornet, Kado, and tease at a whole bunch of other people in the Dynamite line that could come out of nowhere. With dark fireside chats, the villains are finally starting to surface in this installment of the story. Hopefully their forthcoming motivation will be more clear going forward in the tale.
Unfortunately, the scenes following introduce a giant fight scene, which is wonderfully drawn, humorous, and well choreographed, but it is not paced appropriately in a comic book that has so many different plot threads and characters to explore in the forthcoming issues. Thankfully, a mild plot point bleeds into this tale, that also fleshes out some of the more dastardly villains, making this issue not bad, just strangely paced at certain times. The issue also ends on something of a whimper without carrying very much plot, but the way Willingham constructs these tales has a certain charm that is just simply undeniable. While there are many moments or quirks about this tale that are easy to pick apart, Willingham is telling a very tight character based epic that should please fans that are willing to stick with this story, and are somewhat familiar with these heroes.
Sergio Fernandez Davila is an artist so good that he deserves three different names. He has some Seranko-esque layouts that are seriously interesting and manage to engage the reader completely. There are also a couple of splash pages that show he means some serious business, including one a with a hot air balloon that proves this artist has a definite future in the comics medium. The more interesting that the layouts and characters are on the different pages, the more inspired and clean linework that readers tend to get from Davila. As a reader, I could feel bursts of energy from the artist. Sometimes the colors can drown out some of the clean linework and inking from the art, but those moments are few and far between, mainly taking place in clearly lit places like the opening sequence.
Legenderry has a lot to offer fans of the different Dynamite icons, Bill Willingham enthusiasts, and fans of great comic book art with Sergio Fernandez Davila tackling the pencils. This story has a little something for everyone.