REVIEW: Glitterbomb #2

The first thing I noticed about Glitterbomb #2 is the way it would probably smell. That“s only a bit of a synesthesia reach, but what I mean is the artwork instantly grabbed my eye and looked like something that would be printed on newspaper. Even if you“re not a weirdo paper sniffer like I am, you know what newspaper smells like, and because science is nifty, that was a pleasant distraction with reading this issue.

However, it was not pleasant enough to distract from the issues that this book had. First of all, the story involves someone being murdered, which I am simply tired of. Why are so many comic books centered around a murder and a Who done it? kind of attitude. There“s only so much clever writing can do for such a basic theme, and this story has a lot of writing for a small amount of story. I get what it“s generally about, but was bored throughout the entire book, save for one page, and then it was back to being bored again. Words should have meaning, for they are half of this entire medium after all.

I will say that the color scheme used for this story does not help that boredom. Although interesting, K. Michael Russell“s muted chartreuse and navy palette does not do a whole lot of eye catching. Jim Zub really had to put forth an engaging story to make this sort of design work, but he instead chose to skimp on the important details and keep the narration in a lull.

Another thing that really bothered me is the way in which they used the word “junkie”“. It was fucking stupid, and I simply hate stupidity. At one section, a character asks with dark hesitation remnant of a million episodes of Intervention if the main character had been *gasp* dropping acid again? Did she have a relapse? There“s no shame in admitting it, he“ll pay for treatment. LSD is for one thing, not an addictive drug, and the word “junkie”“ does not apply to someone who, for some reason, relapses on acid. Can you imagine someone addicted to acid? It would be fuckin“ bonkers, and also, the brain doesn“t work that way. There are no acid addicts, there are no acid relapses, and it is not a physically addictive substance. If you“re going to talk about something heavy like drug addiction, at least understand what drugs do, cool kid.

Let“s see, the good parts of this book. Well, the cover is nice. Not awful but not completely memorable, and not close to the level of issue #1. There are some interesting points in the story, though I wish it had been edited in a different direction. Is it going in my personal collection? No. But if I“m ever in acid rehab, I“ll probably read the series.

Story: 2 Stars
Artwork: 4 Stars
Cover: 3 Stars

[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

Story By: Jim Zub
Art By: Djibril Morissette-Phan
Art By: K. Michael Russell