Regicide #2 // Review
The masked figure says that any journey into Hell is going to be marked by its own hellishness. It's not exactly the case that the hellish is going to be easy to define or identify, though. Because of how I have many forms as a humble farmer is about to discover in Regicide #2. Writer Patrick Kindlon and artist Ludovic Lalliat continue a thoughtful journey into dark fantasy with a particularly interesting chapter that casts a light into themes that contemporary pop fantasy tends to avoid.It’s a promising second issue to a potentially groundbreaking new series. The heroes get one step closer to their goal
It would be easier for the farmhand to handle the situation if his masked guide was a bit more precise in defining precisely what it is that they need to watch out for. The truth is much more complicated, though. The danger could really be anywhere at all. It could come in any form at all with even the least threatening of apparent intentions. Sometime predatory malevolence wears the mask of a beast...sometimes it chooses an altogether more appealing form. Sometimes it wears beauty. The travelers are going to have more than a bit of a challenge ahead of them.
Kindlon isn't working with anything particularly new here. However, the way he presented on the page makes it feel very fresh and new and original. One would typically expect to see an older figure treated with some sort of reverence as a wise old figure leading the young traveler through danger. Here it's something else altogether. And the central dynamic between the two heroes makes for a really interesting contrast to everything else. There are some interesting angles to what's going on that feel like they could turn into something very compelling as things progress.
Lalliat’’s art has a very specific appeal that seems to be going in interesting directions. Is a heavy rendering about it that feels almost oppressive in the way it brings even graceful action to the page. This has the effect of amplifying any sense of danger that might be making it to the page. It does kind of undercut the idea that danger could be lurking anywhere in the most innocent form. Because everything looks awful. Everything looks overwhelming. Nevertheless, the art fuels like it has enough gravity to keep the momentum going as the series reaches its midway point.
It's a bit odd to think that the series is already halfway through. There are so many different angles on the nature of malevolence that could be explored in a journey like this. And it's kind of disappointing to think that it's already halfway through given how deftly Kindlon and Lalliat are bringing everything to the page. This particular journey really feels like it could explore a lot of the darker side of human nature and nature in general. There isn't really that much more room if the series is already halfway over.
