Sylas has be given the power to take away people’s pain but the responsibility is overwhelming. Find out if Sylas learns to control this ability in Syphon #2 by Image Comics!
SYPHON #2 (OF 3)
Writer: Patrick Meaney and Mohsen Ashraf
Artist: Jeff Edwards
Colorist: John Kalisz
Letterer: Troy Peteri
Publisher: Image Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: August 25th, 2021
Previously in Syphon: Sylas is an EMT who has received the power to siphon pain from others. However, it is hard to just take and take pain and it begins to overwhelm him. Suddenly, he meets Antonio who has the same power. With some guidance, maybe Sylas can learn to balance his new ability.
WORK-LIFE BALANCE
Syphon #2 begins at Antonio’s place where he is telling Sylas a story about when it is best to share the pain and suffering, or when you must relieve the suffering. Sylas gets the message but has a hard time ignoring people’s pain which causes Sylas to gift him some happiness. Now as Sylas walks down the street, he senses people’s joy rather than the pain. But this wears off quickly and he ends up sad and depressed. He returns to Antonio who states that he will teach Sylas how to syphon joyful.
Antonio takes Sylas out to enjoy himself and feed off happiness. He points Sylas to Tim Williams and tells him to just take a little bit of his joy. However, Sylas takes too much and ends up taking away all of Tim’s emotion. The next day Sylas returns to Antonio for answers. Antionio realizes that they can’t be partners and drugs Sylas. He then begins to syphon Sylas’ powers.
CENTER ONESELF
Syphoning pain must be a difficult trait to have, and it is a cool idea to watch someone mentally process this ability. I want Sylas to figure this out, but I think the story was a little rush. He didn’t get to enjoy joy long enough for it to make a lasting impression on the story. I attribute this to the series only being three issues. I think the creative team is trying to push me to sympathize with Sylas without giving me much time to do so. There are a number of reasons why we are only getting three issues, but I can’t help but wanting just a little more time for the reader to process Sylas’ emotion.
Syphon #2 is a great concept, and I really enjoyed the art style. The visual aspect of taking joy and pain from a person is visually stunning. Sylas and Antonio also have a great aesthetic to them, and I applaud Jeff and John’s character design.
BOTTOM LINE: GREAT IDEAS
Syphon #2 has some great concepts, but I think they lack execution due to the limited miniseries. If this even had one more issue, I think you could do a lot more and earn a connection between both the protagonist and the antagonist. 3.5 out of 5 for me and I’ll be picking up the last issue when it comes out.
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Syphon #2
Syphon #2 has a premise of a good story but lacks the execution to make you connect to the characters.
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Writing6
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Art8
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Christopher Rondeau is a storyteller based in Tulsa, OK. Finding himself with little work, he ended up creating a job as a Game Master full time on the internet. Chris spends most of his days reading everything he can, writing bad fiction, and watching old Digimon cartoons with his daughter. Sometimes you can find him Dungeon Mastering a podcast or streaming on twitch. Recently, he has completed his Master's degree with a focus on collaborative storytelling. Find out more at https://rondeaucreator.com