Following a strong debut last month, IDW’s Tales from the Darkside miniseries rolls on with its second issue.
Is it good?
Tales from the Darkside #2 (IDW Publishing)
Observations
- There is no other way that a game of Monopoly between adolescents can end in anything other than tears and violence.
- Or maybe demon possession.
- Pretty sure that firing an employee for their inherent/persistent bad luck violates federal labor law.
- Never trust a company that purposefully misspells their name….
- …or that has a security team leading their discarded scientists out the door as you’re walking in.
- The main character (Newman) is impressively dedicated to solving Rubik’s cubes. The only way I’d ever get through that many is if they let me use the ones with stickers on the squares that you can peel on and off.
- Oh geez.
Pictured: The same demon who kept whispering in my ear the last time I was in a casino.
Is It Good?
A little less than a year ago, I had to have major surgery for the first time. The memory of laying on table and waiting to go to sleep is still pretty fresh in my mind—which made the last image of Tales from the Darkside #2 make me want to piss my pants.
Unfortunately, the rest of the book gets bogged down in so much by setting things up that we don’t get much of a story. Unlike last issue, this one is the first chapter of a two-parter. The last page gives me hope that we’ll see something really cool now that the exposition dump is finished and atmosphere gases have been sprayed.
The book isn’t bad, though. Michael Benedetto does a good job translating Joe Hill’s script to the page, particularly in how he makes Newman the type of person who you would feel sorry for and want to stay away from.
As usual, Gabriel Rodriguez is awesome. The way he draws people and monsters with malicious intent is so chilling that it makes you worry they might come off the page and pull one of your teeth out.
But considering how good the first issue was, this one still feels like a bit of a let down. Let’s hope all the foundation work the creative team did allows them to really cut loose in the latter half of the story.
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