#PoserPreviews--Villainous #2

Have I told you all how much I love Stonie Williams?   Author of Vala the Beast Heart....Mad Cave Studios talent search winner, and author of Villainous, well he just shared with me a little sneak peak into Issue #2.​

Villainous #2 (Mad Cave Studios)
By: Stonie Williams, Jef Sadzinski, Joana Lafuente, Justin Birch and Miguel Angel Zapata 

The book resumes immediately where it left off, with our two detectives investigating the bombing and theorizing about if this is the true work of the Shadow Order and what may happen if they have folks on the inside.  You also get a nice taste of how society truly feels about supers through their eyes: clearly the Coalition are the good guys and the Shadow order are bad.  Someone would even say that the Order's plan to overthrow the Coalition is rediculous.....

Shortly thereafter we get to meet members of the Shadow Order, with their pitch to Tilly as to why they either need Tilly to join them OR to stay with them in an attempt to lay low and stay safe.  THERE IS EVEN A TRAINING VIDEO (might be better than the one Bendis chopped up in his new run of Legion) where Sedition (who appears to be the leader of this parade) defends his organization and its mission, and we see if there is anything that kicks itself into action if Tilly decides to tell them what she's learned about the Coalition and its plans.....and you'll have to read the rest on November 11th to find out more!

Final Thoughts

I think Villainous #2 is as good as if not better than #1 (and normally a lot of books slump in #2 in my opinion).  In terms of the three areas we tend to focus on as readers, here's how I feel!

Story:
I think Williams has created something stellar here.  Who is really good and who is really bad?  This play on Duality of good vs evil or hero vs. villain is an excellent thought discussion, especially when you add in the question of if the Media serves as a buffer for the Coalition's actions while equally desparaging the Shadow Order.  Tilly has quite the Sophie's Choice to deal with in this book.

The Art
Sadzinski and Lafuente create a compelling virtual narrative to match the story.  The recruitment video looks and sounds like every tacky HR video we've ever had to deal with.  They also create awesome authentic facial features to match the emotions of the Shadow Order in not really believing they are in the wrong, the general concern they have for what they're doing is breathtaking.  Some of the power displays (which I don't want to spoil) make this book worth the price of admission alone!!!!

The Lettering
What preview would be complete without a shout-out to the letterer?  I love the subtle shift in font used from the dialogue text to the information we get from the recruitment video and how it shifts again when we see some passages read from files. All of the different backgrounds in each of the text passages are also amazing, and a certain Bald Bearded Bird informed me that Justin did that all himself!!!!!  That is AMAZING!!!!

Go find a copy of #1 and pre-order #2 which comes out on November 11th.