‘So-Called Living’ #2 Reviewed — Quality Is Debatable
by Benjamin Hall
Summary
Jack had a bad night and has become a vampire because of it. Now he is also homeless in a world that contains many supernatural creatures and hordes of bunnies. Can he literally survive the day after waking up in an alley? Also what will the people he calls friends think of him now?
Overall
5/10Writer Mark Maia is also the publisher of this comic, and since this issue lacks an editor the responsibility of mistakes remaining in it is on him. One such mistake is the use of the wrong word in a sentence causing a somewhat jarring reading experience. Also his apparent suggestions for the page layouts may be the reason artist Marco Leone creates some pages that could have better sequencing. There is also a lack of proper set-up for a specific character. On the plus side, Mark Maia does continue with a style of humor reminiscent of Clerks: Animated Series (2000-2002). Maia continues the story in a way that feels correct for where the first issue leaves off. The script is debatable as to its quality and can only see judgement on the basis of an individual reader’s views.
Marco Leone does a good job using shadows and suggestions of light sources to add a bit more depth to this issue. Leone is doing a great job with facial expressions and keeping characters on model. Though Leone also goes for a bloodless visual that feels wrong due to the character not being a zombie or a long time corpse. Also Leone does appear to go too light on inks cause some of the line work seems to still show the pencils. Still Leone does display a lot of skill with the line work.
The hues are again by the colorists at Casbri Studio. They do a great job with consistency of skin pigmentations. Also the hues they choose help with the suggestions of light and shadows scenes have. This is particularly true for the opening pages. The color palettes also assist with this comic’s cartoonish tone.
Letterer Simona Di Napoli makes a questionable choice with the styling of the text in one word balloon in the opening pages. Napoli otherwise does a mostly good job with the text and word balloons.
Again the covers are not seeing examination due to Mark Maia using AI assistance for a set. Though he states on the first kickstarter campaign that he only uses original work that he owns in the prompt generator he utilizes for the assistance.
So-Called Living #2 is out from Maia Comics, and is available on webtoons. Digital, and presumably, physical copies will be available again through the upcoming kickstarter in October for issues 3 and 4.
