The dust storm has descended on New Hope and no one knows what kind of horrors hide behind the sands.  Your Major Spoilers review of Dust To Dust #2 awaits!

DUST TO DUST #2

Writers: JG Jones and Phil Bram
Artist: JG Jones
Letterer: Jackie Marzan
Editor: Harper Jaten
Publisher: Image Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: January 29th, 2025

Previously, in Dust To Dust: The Great Depression is in full swing, and the small town of New Hope is feeling the brunt of it.  While navigating the inner workings of a town racked with poverty the local sheriff discovers something grisly while a photographer arrives in town eager to document history.

TAKE COVER

Dust to Dust #2 kicks off with the looming dust storm slamming into New Hope, sending everyone scrambling for shelter.  Sarah and the two boys she photographed get to her car and drive into town.  The sheriff gets the local doctor and heads towards his house.  As the sheriff gets near, Sarah is forced to crash by a trio of hooligans.  She joins him, and they go to the doctor’s house.  The doctor’s wife gives Sarah a little insight into the sheriff while he asks the doctor about the bones he discovered.  At night, the sheriff has an odd dream.  The next day, the Sheriff needs to drive to the next town over to make a call and asks to use Sarah’s car, which she agrees to and tags along herself.  Before they can reach their destination, the duo come across something troubling.

SO SLOW OF A BURN, THERE’S BARELY SMOKE

Dust to Dust #2 is a flat-out boring comic.  There’s plenty of atmosphere, there’s a decent amount of interpersonal interactions and a touch of weirdness, but all of that is sprinkled between just a small handful of actual things happening.  The highlight of the issue is Sarah’s interactions with the various townspeople, which vary between quietly humorous, mildly tragic, and subtly antagonistic.  It’s a struggle to figure out what purpose this issue actually serves.  The first issue did a great job of setting the stage and establishing a tone, but this really doesn’t build on that at all since so many of the events are limited to just a couple of places, and the actual intriguing parts are too obscured by mystery or relegated to a cliffhanger.  This series has such a good atmosphere and feel, but if nothing is happening within it, that aura only carries things so far.

GETTING PHOTOGENIC

While it was certainly present in the first issue, the influence of Depression Era photography really comes through in Dust to Dust #2.  Beyond the scenes where Sarah is actually taking pictures, every panel looks like it could be something that would’ve ended up in Life Magazine, or National Geographic specials about The Great Depression.  Also, JG Jones managed to find a way to create a color effect for a flashback, in a comic that is already mostly black and white, which is an impressive thing to see.   Even with the story itself not providing a lot to keep readers’ attention, the art is still something to see and enjoy.

BOTTOM LINE:  NOT DOING ENOUGH

There is an interesting story happening with this series, but so far it’s been buried under a lot of setup and has only brought a tiny shovel to dig. Dust to Dust #2 is an odd example of when a comic has good characters, a good setting, a good atmosphere, and a good tone, but simply doesn’t do anything with any of those pieces that amounts to something that pushes the story forward or creates any decent intrigue.  It sure is pretty though, so it has that going for it.  3 out of 5 stars.

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Dust to Dust #2

67%

67%

Getting Dusty

Dust To Dust #2 seems so concerned about creating this sense of impending dread and tension for future issues that it forgets to actually make a case for its own existence.

• Writing

  4
• Art

  8
• Coloring

  8
• User Ratings (0 Votes)
  0