In the aftermath of Anita’s first mission with her new mech, she has more questions than answers and they need to be answered before it’s too late.  Your Major Spoilers review of Dawnrunner #2, awaits!

DAWNRUNNER #2

Writer: Ram V
Artist: Evan Cagle
Colorist: Dave Stewart
Letterer: Aditya Bidikar
Editor: Konner Knudsen
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Cover Price: $4.99
Release Date: April 24th, 2024

Previously in Dawnrunner: Still recovering from the aftermath of piloting an experimental Iron King in combat for the first time, all-star pilot Anita Marr digs to uncover what happened when the massive mech malfunctioned mid-fight.

GOING BACK IN

Dawnrunner #2 starts off with Anita having a conversation with her daughter, assuring her that her mom is safe as long as she’s in an Iron King.  Afterward, she’s picked up by Andro, where it’s revealed that Anita’s daughter is dealing with a mysterious health issue.  Andro informs Anita that when Dawnrunner malfunctioned, her brain activity disappeared, and he wants to know where her mind went.  Anita gets out of the car and meets with her team.  She’s then told the true nature of Dawnrunner and how its OS differs from past Iron Kings.  Anita wants to reconnect with the OS, but her team shuts her down.  One scientist though agrees to help her.  Once again, Anita is plugged into Dawnrunner, and she gets to speak with Major Takeda.

WELL-PACED, BUT UNEVENTFUL

With the first issue of this series being such an action-packed and visually stunning opener, Dawnrunner #2 was always going to have an upward fight to keep up with that pace.  Thankfully, it was up to the task, for the most part.  This issue feels very much like the infodump issue, between Anita’s family, to the truth behind Dawnrunner, to Takeda’s motivations, there’s a lot to unpack here.  To do this, without making the issue get bogged down with walls of text, the creators do something clever, which is to have the backstory told over scenes of the fight from the last issue that the main character wasn’t aware of due to being unconscious.  It’s an admirable way to make sure the reader still gets all the kaiju vs. big robot action they crave, while still getting the nitty gritty story details out of the way.   That being said, this issue does lose some of the intrigue from the first issue and doesn’t replace it with anything, making the overall story feel a bit shallower.

STILL GORGEOUS

There’s no doubt that one of the things that had people talking the most after the first issue of this series dropped was the visuals.  I’m going to assume that’s going to be the case with Dawnrunner #2 as well.  Once again, Evan Cagel and Dave Stewart come together to create an absolute stunner of a comic.  The combination of some clever stippling and the soft color palette create a look that has a real classic look that you’d expect to see from 70s and 80s Franco-Belgian comics, but the depictions of technology, the monsters, and robots, all feel like they could’ve been pulled from the mid-90s era of anime and manga that gave us Evangelion and Ghost in The Shell.  It’s not all perfect though, much like the first issue, Dawnrunner #2 has somewhat of a clarity problem during the big fight scenes.  It’s very difficult to discern just what exactly is going on, with some panels being completely indecipherable collages of flesh and robot components.  With that being said though, the first 6 pages of this comic alone might be worth the price of admission.

BOTTOM LINE:  NOT LOSING ANY STEAM

Dawnrunner #2 finds a solid method of giving the reader a fine balance of action and information.  While not as much happens in this issue and some of the bite of the commentary feels dulled here, what does happen in this issue feels consequential and necessary.  The real story here though is the visuals.  This still remains one of the most visually unique and pleasing series out there right now. There are some issues with clarity, but the highs here definitely overshadow the lows.  4 out of 5 stars.

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Dawnrunner #2

80%

80%

Don't Miss Out

While the pace and intensity have been scaled back a bit, Dawnrunner #2 keeps the series moving in a good direction while being enjoyable in its own right.

• Writing

  8
• Art

  8
• Coloring

  8
• User Ratings (0 Votes)
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