One bad decision may cost have Jennifer everything… Your Major Spoilers review of Casual Fling #2 from AWA Studios awaits!
CASUAL FLING #2
Writer: Jason Starr
Artist: Dalibor Talajic
Colorist: Marco Lesko
Letterer: Steve Wands
Publisher: AWA Studios
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: March 3, 2021
Previously in Casual Fling: Jennifer Ryan has the perfect life. A loving family. A high paying job in corporate law. A luxurious apartment in upper Manhattan. Then one day she steps out of her marriage… and finds that her new lover isn’t the one night stand she expected. Stalked and threatened with exposure, Jennifer attempts to unravel the true identity of her tormentor, discovering valuable clues in the trail of destruction left in this mysterious man’s wake.
IS IT A MEET-CUTE OR A STALK-CRAZY?
After last issue’s one-night-stand, Jennifer has returned to her normal life… but she can’t quite get Alex off her mind, to the detriment of her patience and her marriage. As she goes about her work week, Alex keeps popping up at inopportune times, claiming to be “an old friend” and interrupting her at times when she can’t tell him to knock it off. It’s exceedingly creepy, made even more so when he arrives at her office to chide her for ghosting him, ending with a flippant “you should check your email.” That’s when the blackmail begins, as Alex demanding 50,000 in bitcoin to keep the secret of the sexual misadventure secret. Jennifer immediately tells her husband Matt the truth, and he immediately leaves her. She tries to engage the police, to no avail, leaving her with no real options. Matt, for his part, ends up meeting someone he calls Sensei, for reasons unknown.
THE TRUTH COMES OUT
The cliffhanger of this issue troubles me, but I admit that I don’t have all the information. If this turns into Matt fighting off jennifer’s new beau with his kung-fu, I’ll be very disappointed, as the best parts of this story have been the stuff that you don’t normally see in comic books. There are elements of a Lifetime movie of the week here, all of which play differently in a comic book context, and I like the fact that there haven’t been any supernatural or comic-booky elements to the story so far. Alex could be a male counterpart to Glen Close’s character in ‘Fatal Attraction’ (with a little blackmail thrown in) and the story uses those very human elements well. The art is likewise attractive, though it’s sometimes hard to read the emotions of the characters, especially when Jennifer’s boss hears her latest excuse to skip work. Is he angry? Distrustful? it’s not quite clear, and I hope that is intentional.
BOTTOM LINE: I WONDER WHERE THIS IS GOING
Once again, there are elements of this story that feel quite familiar, but Casual Fling #2 plays with it’s characters and story in ways you don’t usually see in comics, drawing a lot of drama out of Jennifer’s dilemma, and even with a questionable cliffhanger, works more often than not, earning 3 out of 5 stars overall. I am surprised how well this series has held together, and expect I’ll be back for more.
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CASUAL FLING #2
I'm not as enamored of this issue as I was #1, but it still holds together dramatically... I'm just leery of that last page.
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Writing6
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Art7
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Coloring6
