Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Critter #2

reviewed by Simon Breeze

Issue #2 of Critter is awesome! Let's just get that stated right away. Critter hit the ground running with first issue and has kept the momentum going into this second one and looks to be pushing it into the next.

A quick flick through got me itching to get reading and bumped it right to the top of my reading pile.

The comic starts with a new story picking up with Cassia in one of her classes at school where the teacher is discussing 'why do people with superpowers become heroes and not film stars or villains?'.

Using her ties to the super-hero community the teacher has invited a guest speaker to talk to the class in the guise of a super-hero called, Lilly Hammer, who is just brilliant!

Lessons and school over for the day, and Cassia puts on her costume and goes on patrol as Critter selecting to keep an eye on things along the Californian beach front. Despite her reservations as to her choice of places to patrol, it isn't long before Critter is jumping into action and stopping a purse thief in his tracks with a huge pounce from a lifeguard tower and mushing his face in the sand.

Things move very quickly from here and start with an introduction to who I can only assume at this point in the story is the 'Anti-Critter'. This encounter with this interesting lady (and I use this term 'lady' lightly) leads to a confrontation and a girl-fight between Critter and her troubled 'gothic-punk' rival, it even has hair pulling!

Now throw in a huge sea beast attacking boats and the coastline with its army of sea monsters into the mix and you have a conclusion to an issue that sets up the next one in such a way I can't wait to read it, it has also left me with a big smile on my face too!




I think that is one of the things I really like about Critter: not only does it leave me wanting more, it also leaves me with a big grin on my face and throughout too. An example of this is with the introduction of the character of Lilly Hammer. Boy do I love this hero. Picture a female parody of Thor played in a similar way as Marvel do with his Marvel Super-Hero Squad character, it is little short of brilliance! I would go as far as to say I would probably pick up a comic based on Lilly Hammer as she seems such a fun character.

The rest of issue #2 is a highly enjoyable read and flies along at a cracking pace, and yet also has so much going on at the same time that when you have finished reading it you wonder how you ever paused for breath as you turned the pages. Once again the art is fantastic, the dialogue brilliant and the story and pacing are bang-on!

As I've said, I can't wait for the next issue and so far Critter is one I will be looking to get when it goes to trade edition. Just as with issue #1, I give issue #2 of Critter top marks and a cat fighting five out of five!

Critter #2
Story by Tom Hutchison & Kel Nuttall, art by Fico Ossio
Published by Big Dog Ink


Many thanks to Simon for another enjoyable review - remember Simon will be contributing to Escape from Tomorrow each week and in between his posts you can pop over to his blog to enjoy more of his writing and artwork.

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