Review – The Steam Man #2 (Dark Horse Comics)

Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Story: Joe R Lansdale
Script: Mark Alan Miller
Artist: Piotr Kowalski
Release Date: 18th November. 2015

Well I never did. I didn’t, not even once. I never saw this coming after the first issue.

First of all, this book should be, as was pointed out in our review of issue one, about a steam-punk jaeger kicking seven shades of bejeezus out of anything that gets in its way. In this issue we get to see the Steam Man walk, that’s it.

What we do get is initially confusing, and then intriguing, and this intriguing twizzle is the reason why this book might just turn into a classic. It might, but it’s not quite there yet. For one the eponymous mechanism hasn’t featured nearly enough.

When I started to read the comic I thought something had gone wrong with the digital copy I have. I honestly thought that the file was the first few pages of Steam Man followed by the bulk of the pages from another book by the same artist. But there was nothing wrong, and as I continued to read, the realisation spread through my dim little brain that the storytellers had spun the book around a few times and it was me that was dizzy, but it that would all be alright.

I’m not going to give away any spoilers. That wouldn’t be fair. I want those of you interested enough to pick this book up to feel the same trickle of realisation that this book could be something different, something good, possibly even something great when you go from page to page.

So, after two issues, I really want to see what the hell is going to happen in the third. I thought I knew what the series was about when I saw the first cover, it was going to be steam-punk Pacific Rim. Then I read it, and it turned into a bit of a horror story. Now, after the second issue, I’m not even going to begin to speculate for issue three. I have no idea where this Steam Man is going to end up, but it has me along for a ride, probably in his left leg, getting my brains rattled about.

Rating: 4/5.

PREVIEW ARTWORK
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