Review: ‘DC K.O.’ #2 Continues To Impress In Its Dynamism And Dialogue

After an impressive first issue, we open up on DC K.O. #2 with a scavenger hunt. But it’s not too long until we have what most readers, I assume, are picking this miniseries up for. And that’s the fighting. But saving this issue from being a mindless slugfest is writer Scott Snyder’s witty and zippy dialogue that matches the fast-paced action with zingers flying all over the battlefield. There are, however, more sombre and serious moments too, as we hear Lex Luthor’s new reasons for hating Superman. And in combining the tense with the much-needed humorous inserts, we get another issue I was surprised to enjoy so much. After all, at face value, this could have been a simple crowd-pleasing series designed to spark all the right synapses in us long-time comic book fans. 

And with so many one-on-one battles to cram into one issue, the two artists, Javi Fernández and Alejandro Sánchez, have their work cut out for them. Maybe that’s why we get two artists on this issue. Thankfully, their styles are so similar that there is no disconnect for the reader. Indeed, with the sheer amount of action and panels per page – many laid out to reflect the jarring action and energy spilling out from the page in very dynamic ways – there is no letting up either. It’s cover-to-cover action, with Fernández and Sánchez choreographing each scene with balletic precision and brutal beauty. By the end of the issue, their numbers are halved. Who will be the eight remaining? Well, you’ll just have to pick up this second issue, out now from DC Comics.

DC K.O. #2 is a fun and frantic issue that sparks with both dialogue and blockbuster battles as the heroes and villains of the DCU set out to scavenge some very familiar and iconic items. With so much DC lore on display, this feels like an old-school summer crossover from my youth. Brash, bombastic and just a little bit silly in its whole conception. The perfect crossover comic!