Navigating The Bloody Horror Of Life — Reviewing ‘Dead Teenagers’ #2

Finding yourself stuck in a high school prom time loop where you die in variously gruesome ways is pretty scary. What’s even scarier: suddenly being thrust out of that time loop into the world of adulthood.

Taxes, marriage, kids, realized dreams, shattered realities, and more can be downright terrifying. Dead Teenagers #2 changes up the game as Jude Ellison S. Doyle, Caitlin Yarsky, and Becca Carey put the former teens turned adults through a different type of wringer.

— Spoilers Follow —

Following up a tremendously well-paced, gorgeous, creative, and splendidly-presented debut isn’t easy. Creatively, we all want to have momentum carried even further as we add to whatever story we might be telling. Sometimes that naturally wanes as a story has to enter the realm of explanation, exposition, or dropping of lore. Other times, that loss is just a subjectively based assessment.

Then there are books like this where not a lick of momentum or creative energy is lost.

In fact, this takes what was already great about the first issue and knocks it up more notches.

I love how the opening focuses on one of the sillier and wackier of the time loops scenarios to frame a real character moment. Doyle crafted a cadre of characters who are intriguing and enchanting even with so many fertile gaps left in their history and personalities. These are figures who feel familiar trope-wise, but are beyond those guidelines because they have genuine human elements popping from the page with powerful intent and immeasurable potential.

On the same note, there is enough foundational building happening here to keep the still wildly under explored mystery in a tantalizing space. Balancing a mystery is hard to do in most respects, but doubly so in monthly comic book format. There has to be enough to keep the reader intrigued without feeling like it’s taking too long to get to a reveal. Here, we get to find out that there is some version of the death or a killer still happening in this new adult scenario.

A person or element that poor Ryder recognizes and lets his guard down around before his painful and latest untimely death. It came not from trying to be a big hero to others, but to make sure that those he cares about get information that they need. Growth right there.

In the previous review, I spoke about the balance of darkness and lightness that teen-focused horror stories are known for. There, I connected it to how well Yarsky captures that aesthetic with the artwork. Once more, this remains a true way to speak about the beautiful, artistic display before us.

At the same time, there is a major difference. Where the previous issue was focused on teens trying to get through slasher style scenarios, this one is about the adult aspect as noted before. This light-and-dark approach is appropriate for both scenarios with very different flavoring. There is a rougher feeling to the aspects here as the lightness is toned down. Our cast of characters has been thrown into the true deep end of adulthood without a paddle or hope.

There is an overarching depressive element circling the characters, even with one whose life is potentially better than the others. Yarsky conveys this so seamlessly through the way the art brings the figures and spaces to life.

We also feel this through color palette choices that are rich with varying tonal ranges. Earlier flashbacks are more energetic and vibrant while the new present is washed out with harder structure. It plays into the way that adulthood can often feel colorless and suffocating — especially when we feel lost or trapped in some way.

All of these elements bleed into the work that Carey delivers on the lettering side of things, tapping into the energy of the series’ DNA to give characters voices an authentic push into reality. This allows the words to have emotional power that resonates within our minds as we read each utterance.

It also plays with the overall aesthetic to give the lettering visual boosts beyond the standard levels. This includes colors and shifts in bubbles and boxes as necessary to the moment.

Dead Teenagers #2 is now available from Oni Press.