Publisher: BOOM! Studios
Writer: Christopher Sebela
Artist: Diego Barreto
Release Date: 7th January, 2015

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Everyone’s favourite one-eyed hero has left the near perma-darkness of post-apocalyptic New York behind for the sunnier climes of Florida, which unfortunately turns out to be an even bigger hell-hole. Having survived the deadly Crucible to gain entry, Snake finds himself face to face with the mythical Romulus and Remus; teenage twins held in almost God-like acclaim, who are hell-bent on full-scale war with the rest of America. Armed with a cache of nuclear warheads acquired from Cuba, and with an ever-expanding legion of insane followers behind them, the twins have earmarked Snake as the perfect candidate to lead the assault…only he doesn’t think so.

Escape from New York got off to a pretty shaky start last time out, but this second issue goes some way towards addressing the gripes I had with the first; primarily from a characterisation standpoint. Thankfully, Snake’s near super-heroic abilities have been toned down and he faces some pretty tense moments of genuine peril. The Free Republic of Florida is a violent, tempestuous environment, where society has regressed to a frontier-like state of anarchy, and Snake is going to have his work cut out if he is to survive.

From a story perspective, it’s an ouroboros-like journey where Snake ends up pretty much back at square one come the end of the issue. As before, a number of disposable characters are used to setup scenarios, and there are further hints at a larger narrative regarding the impending war, but we don’t learn any more about the infamous twins or their supposed psychic abilities. We are, however, introduced to their maternal protector in the shape of Meemaw; a gargantuan alligator wrestler with whom Snake is probably going to have more contact in future.

Conceptually, the book has a number of interesting ideas at play, but Diego Barreto’s artwork, whilst perfectly serviceable and by no means bad, doesn’t do justice to such concepts. Storytelling issues aside (some awkward panel transitions and jarring changes in perspective), the art is lacking in the drama and scale the property deserves. For example, ‘The Brig’, four submarines welded together at the bottom of the ocean, is surely deserving of at least a half page splash. Instead, it’s squeezed into a small panel at the bottom corner of the page, which was a real shame.

Although very much a step in the right direction, EFNY still has its problems. As much as I want to love it, at this point it’s purely one for the die-hards.

Rating: 3/5.

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PREVIEW ARTWORK.
[Click thumbnail for full size image]

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The Writer of this piece was: Martin Doyle
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You can check out more of Martins reviews and thoughts on random retro things over at Retromuse

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