Advance Review: ‘Barnstormers’ #2 Continues To Fly High After Eisner Win
by Tom Smithyman
Overview
Beautiful visuals and a compelling story reminiscent of Bonnie & Clyde bring this 1920’s tale of love and adventure to life. The creative team is at the top of their game – and readers get to reap the rewards of their outstanding work.
Overall
9.5/10Fresh off their Eisner Award win for best digital comic, Scott Snyder and Tula Lotay are back with the second issue of the print version of Barnstormers. This chapter – two chapters really since this issue includes the third and fourth installments of the digital version – will remind readers why this creative team is worthy of the accolades.
From the Gone With the Wind-inspired cover to the high-flying hijinks of the main characters, Lotay’s illustrations (Is that even an appropriate word to use here? Her artwork transcends the medium – digital or print.) demand your attention. She embuses in every page, every panel, an ethereal quality. It’s as if the who story of the flim-flam man and the young woman looking for an escape is dream or a distant memory.
Much of this middle chapter of the story focuses on the two lovers, Bix and Tillie. That doesn’t always give Lotay much to work with aside from two people talking and making out. Yet she manages to capture beauty in each panel. This is not your typical comic – and that’s what makes it so special. And rest assured, there is enough action and intrigue for the adrenaline junkies to feast their eyes on as well.
Snyder’s story twists and turns appropriate for a series about a barrel-rolling airplane pilot in the 1920s. After “kidnapping” Tillie from her wedding, Bix is heading to Cuba for a life of luxury. But Tillie’s former fiancé Peyton has other plans. He’s hired a former Pinkerton detective to track them down.
Snyder crafts Peyton as a pretty one-dimensional villain. He’s a malicious drunk hellbent on getting Tillie back at any cost – human or otherwise. Zeke the detective, on the other hand, understands the full picture but is unable to bend his employer’s will.
Clearly the Eisner voters got this choice right. The only unfortunate aspect to this magnificent series is that there is only one print issue left. But that means we’ll cherish it all the more.
Barnstormers #2 will be available for purchase on Wednesday.