When an imaginative orphan befriends a giant in the forest there is no telling what could happen next, but teaming up as crime-fighting superheroes was a decision that most children would take. But all is not what it seems in the forest! Your Major Spoilers review of Myth #2 is just after the jump!
SUMMARY
Pros
Sense of child-like adventure
Black & White used well
Cons
Lack of clear panel separation
Having to wait for the next issue
READER RATING!
[ratings]
MYTH #2
Writer: Mike Loniewski
Artist: Dan Lauer
Letters: E.T. Dollman
Publisher: Alterna Comics
Cover Price: $1.99
Previously in Myth: Sam escaped the evil orphanage to try his luck in the forest. Luck was in his favor as he befriended a giant and told him all about his favorite superhero. The duo took their comics knowledge and applied it in real life as they overthrew the evil caretakers of the orphanage and freed the orphans before disappearing back into the forest.
YOU’VE GOT A FRIEND IN ME
At the heart of Myth #1 was a truly wonderful friendship story between a young boy with a rough past and a silent giant; thankfully, this continues with great form in this second issue. Now that their rescuing of the orphanage is over, the two must decide how they are going to continue. What do they decided on? The logical choice of course: don the masks and capes and stop the bank robbing Carson Gang.
Preceding this shootout with The Carson Gang, we are introduced to Anne. Originally it seems that she is just a sweet woman who gives Sam an entire box full of baseball gear so he and the Giant can always play, but that would be too simple wouldn’t it? Anne actually has a past with our silent Giant, specifically when she was a child. She reveals this to Sam as she explains where it is Giant comes from and the dangers that lie within the forest Sam found his friend in.
As Myth #2 continued on it is clear that there is much to Giant and the forest he came from that still hasn’t been revealed. In this issue there are multiple layers to characters that are being explored with a continually growing story that is still accessible from any age. Where Myth #2 excels the most is in creating a story that leaves adult readers wanting to travel back a few years to act out the adventure Sam is on in the backyard.
WHERE’S THE BORDER?
Dan Lauer continues handling the artwork for Myth and achieves the same level of storytelling this issue as he did the last. Myth is a completely black and white book that uses the lack of color to its advantage by utilizing negative space to define the images on panel. Speaking of panels, the manner in which they were handled a majority of the time was my only problem with this issue. Instead of using the traditional black bars to separate panels from each other, which was done in the first issue, Lauer separates the panels with strips of white blank space. Now, this wouldn’t be a problem, but with a book that uses white space to define objects this panel separating technique can become confusing.
BOTTOM LINE: TRUE TO THE ALL-AGES TAG
It is in my opinion, because I suffer from this also, that when most comic readers hear a book is “all-ages” it means that it is for kids and couldn’t possibly entertain the high-minded readers of the gritty, dark, adult themed comics. Thankfully there are series like Myth that are combating that thinking by delivering a book that can truly enjoyed by all-ages.
