Advance Review: ‘Crowbound’ #2 Moves At Its Own Pace And Reveals Just Enough To Keep Readers Hooked
by Tom Smithyman
Overview
After a crazy cliffhanger in its first issue, this series reincarnates its main character and sends her on a mission to rescue her kidnapped daughter. It’s set in a mysterious world. Just don’t expect a lot of answers immediately. These creators will spill the beans only when they’re ready.
Overall
8.5/10It’s not every new series that ends its premiere issue with the main character’s throat being slashed and pushed off a ledge.
Then again, Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen usually do things their own way. And we readers usually benefit from that.
The pair have again teamed up for Crowbound, which returns for its second issue. This chapter picks up after Rose’s death, though interestingly enough, death doesn’t seem to be a final as was thought. Instead, the young woman meets the Scarecrow Queen and learns the origins of the Eater. If you’re looking for more of an explanation on either, you’re not going to find it … at least yet.
Instead Rose is reincarnated (more or less) to find her daughter, Ava, who has been kidnapped. What follows is a revenge story that would make Liam Neeson proud.
Lemire, who writes the series, once again creates a complicated backstory for this world and his characters. But he doesn’t share that mythos with us all at once. Expect it to come in dribs-and-drabs as the series matures. In the hands of lesser writers, that would feel frustrating. But Lemire knows how to keep his readers engaged so he can dictate his own pace of exposition.
And it’s always exciting to see Lemire pair up with Nguyen, whom he worked with on Ascender, Descender, and other series. Nguyen feels like the perfect artist to create the Scarecrow Queen, an ancient vine-like being that should seem terrifying, but feels maternalistic under Nguyen’s brush. And his use of white and blue backgrounds gives most panels an otherworldly, almost dreamlike feel.
Crowbound moves at its own specific pace, and these creators have earned our trust through their many collaborations. We’ll get more answers when they deem it makes sense to reveal them.
Crowbound #2 — written by Jeff Lemire, illustrated by Dustin Nguyen, and lettered by Steve Wands — will be available Wednesday in comic book stores and on digital platforms from Image Comics.
