Guest Post
It wasn’t too long ago that I wrote a review for A Dummy’s Guide to Danger: Lost at Sea, but I was given an opportunity to check out issue number two in advance, so I figured I would dust off the cobwebs on my keyboard and give the second issue a mini review. The second issue in the mini series continues the trend of mixing humor and mystery with an assorted gang of interesting characters that is hard to put down.
I won’t go into the general plot in this review since I covered that in first review. The first issue leaves you on a cliffhanger and this one picks right up from there. But if you can’t find the first issue at your local comic shop, you won’t be too lost since it was written in a way that you can pick it right up.
One thing that I will give the writer, Jason Burns, credit for is that he knows how to set up proper cliffhangers in each issue. The first issue leaves you with one, and the second issue continues that. Having good cliffhangers is very important in comics and I think Jason agrees with me in that regard. The end of this issue leaves you in a place where you just have to march down to your local nerd den and plop over the money that Big Oil was expecting that week.
Like the first issue and even the last mini series, Jason really fleshes out new characters for both Alan and Mr. Bloomberg to interact with. To me, each issue seems like an episode of Seinfeld or Arrested Development. The main plot continues, but we are given more odd characters to laugh at. I swear, the wife of a couple you meet remind me of a college professor I once had and I had to do a double take on it.
The dialog is not as heavy as the last issue, but it is still more than you normally get these days. I think I said it made me feel like I got my monies worth last time, and that holds true here, too. I think Jason got the right balance this time out. One thing I did notice with the writing is that Alan seems to be more cantankerous than he was in the last series. Instead of being more of a detective and noticing things, he seems to be more reactive and angrier. But that might just mean he left his Dramamine in the car or something.
There are plenty of jokes this time out and I think Jason and Joe Eisma are really starting to mesh, because the visuals really help the gags along.
Joe Eisma continues to do a great job on the art. There are some minor improvements overall and nothing really to complain about. For someone completing his first comic series, the art is really nice and better drawn than many artists with much more experience. The page layout and camera views feel very natural and work well. The only thing I can really say that needs improvement is some of the backgrounds are rather large and empty, but it has improved from the first issue significantly. It seems like all the rooms Alan and Mr. Bloomberg go in were decorated by me and my wife, meaning they are empty. It’s not a big complaint and it doesn’t take anything away from the comic.
If you didn’t give the first issue a try, I highly suggest you go out and grab this issue. I believe there are still copies available to order of issue number one as well as the TPB of the first mini series. Issue number two comes out in late April, so give it a shot. You will be glad you did.
A Dummy’s Guide to Danger: Lost at Sea #2
Writer: Jason M. Burns
Art: Joe Eisma
Viper Comics
Released April 2008
Diamond Order Code: FEB084094