One of the most exciting new series is back for its sophomore issue. Justice Warriors #2 takes off right where #1 finished: Traumatized police officer Swamp Cop continues to train his new partner, Schitt (yes, he looks like the poo emoji) while mutant Uzzers riot outside Bubble City. It goes without saying, but a plot synopsis doesn’t do this series enough justice. Pun intended. On top of that, AHOY being AHOY, there are two extras in the form of prose from Kirk Vanderbeek and Robert Jeschonek.
The Good
Last month, I sang the praises for Justice Warriors fairly loudly. This will continue. It’s so rare these days for a book to be so fresh while being so entertaining. Each page seems to have something even trippier than the last, but at no point do you ever think “now this is silly”. Bors and Clarkson have tapped into something special with this series. They’ve found the incredibly thin line between weird and lol-so-randumb.
The characters, be it mutant Uzzers or otherwise, all have distinct looks that jump right off the page. More or less each time you turn the page over you will stop to take in these designs. It’s not even an art book, necessarily. It’s just new. There’s the charm of something like Smiling Friends but with the more rounded edges of mainstream comic book. The book escapes that trope of ‘the creators must like their drugs’ and feels genuinely different.
Additionally, it’s well written too. Justice Warriors is one of the funniest new books on shelves. While character designs and names (Swamp Cop, Schitt, Bread King) are silly, it’s what these characters are doing and saying that’s truly funny. Bread King convincing everyone to invest in bread like something off of WallStreetBets, or Officer Schitt receiving a green carbine assault rifle because it’s mental health awareness month is the sort of humor that’s been missing.
Between the synopsis and the character names it all sounds like a joke, but Justice Warriors is smarter than it looks.
The ‘Bad’
There’s very little to complain about. If anything maybe the plot is slow, but there’s plenty to keep the reader occupied while that develops.
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