The first issue of Effigy introduced us to child star turned Z-lister Chondra Jackson returning to her home town to discover a murder identical to one that took place in an episode of her former TV show, Star Cop.
The second issue sees Chondra teaming with a homicide detective to piece together the clues. Is it good?
Effigy #2 (Vertigo Comics)
So Chondra’s first big case is a bit of doozy: A mummified body buried at Effigy Mound with a tattoo of the Star Cop logo is on the victim’s back. It’s an odd case, but things only get stranger when she meets up with an old friend named Eddie Chacon. You see, Eddie and Chondra were childhood friends before she went to Hollywood and now Eddie’s running the local chapter of the Star Cop fan club. Of course, that’s not the strangest part of this…
Effigy #2 is a marked improvement over the first issue. The storytelling and writing feel much tighter and picked up in general. Writer Tim Seeley made some progress with the mystery, introduced more characters and gave them depth, and even gave us an intriguing ending as well. Everything feels like it’s clicking much better in this issue and that makes me happy. Seeley’s writing on the book overall is good here, with some minor hiccups at points. The pacing is decent and the story structure is solid too. There’s another page like the last issue however where Chondra addresses the audience — I’m sure these little snippets will make more sense in the end but for now they just feel a bit out of place. The dialogue though is pretty dang good, with plenty of great and natural-sounding banter between the characters. Speaking of which, the characterization was also excellent. Everyone that played a role in the issue got a bit of character development or some of their backstory revealed to help make them feel more realized. Lastly, the most interesting aspect of the writing I would have to say is the tone: it seems like it should be much darker in nature, given the subject matter, but it feels rather silly and quirky at points. I rather like that though, a nice balance of suspense, intrigue, humor and quirkiness that helps give the comic a more unique feel that most books I read that pick one tone and stick to it without ever deviating.
That corpse was blonde at one point?
The art by Marley Zarcone is still fairly good. The characters are nicely drawn and outside of one awkward expression, the facial expressions were pretty solid on this one. The layouts are well put together and easy to read/follow along with. The coloring and inking were both nice with no problems either. The only thing I could say negatively about the book was that the artwork didn’t really get to stretch itself much. There wasn’t much in the script to really let the artist be creative or show something really neat looking like the last issue. Not Zarcone’s fault of course, but still would’ve been nice as I enjoyed some of the more unique visual aspects from Effigy #1.
Is It Good?
Effigy #2 is a good step up from the last issue, showing plenty of improvements over last time. The script feels tighter, the writing is solid, the characters are pretty good, and the artwork is easy on the eyes. I’m hoping this series continues to keep growing and improving, because it shows plenty of potential to become something really great.
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