Deathrage #2: Kickstarter Edition is a comic created by Merc Publishing. Reeling from the events that transpired concerning his boss we catch our protagonist down on his luck at a circus. Deathrage is just trying to fix what he messed up but he isn’t getting any help until he meets someone that is a cross between Halo’s Cortana and Tinker Bell. Her name is Pixel and she appears to have answer. Listening to her results in him making what seems like progress but it all goes wrong. Where ever you thought this story was going after reading the first issue is probably not where it actually ended up. The blue-haired Candy makes a reappearance with a more important role and we have a new player in the game, the pyrokineticist Fire Kiss. This is one of those intriguingly confusing plots that you can’t wait to see resolved. I’m looking forward to the upcoming issues.

            It’s some good art here. It especially shines in the action scenes, things don’t seem out of place, movement looks realistic, the combatants aren’t jumping to odd positions from panel-to-panel, and it all gels nicely. There aren’t many people on screen this issue so there isn’t any twinning going on. The faces are expressive enough but since the primary emotion is anger there isn’t much to analyze. Deathrage is wearing a mask that changes frequently but I don’t know if we can count that. Good work is done with the various locations, they are put together is such a way that certain areas can feel familiar.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes.

“Would I like this?”

If you like stories featuring a confused lead you should catch up on this series. Superhero fans and those who like betrayal plots should turn these pages.

“What would this comic’s film rating be?”

PG-13.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“Oh man, you’re going to need a lot of pockets.”

 

PDF Link: https://mercmagazine.com/products/deathrage-2-pdf-download?_pos=1&_sid=e7538f430&_ss=r

Retail Link: https://mercmagazine.com/collections/deathrage/products/deathrage-3

Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mercmagazine/merc-miss-meow-and-deathrage-2?ref=profile_saved_projects_live

***IN-DEPTH COMIC STATS BELOW***

Probably Contains Spoilers

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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 22

Violent Pages: 8, for 36% of the comic

Sexy Pages: 0, for 0% of the comic

 

**The levels below aren’t necessarily maintained throughout the whole comic, but they were definitely reached**

 

Violence Level – 3

“Wasn’t no tussling at all.”

“Sometimes you gotta hit somebody.”

“I’m getting charged with how many counts of assault?”

“This was a tournament arc.”

“All my life I had to fight.”

 

Gore Level – 2

“The only thing leaking out your face is tears.”

“Looks like somebody spilled some ketchup.”

“Might need to soak that up with a bath towel.”

“That isn’t supposed to be outside the body.”

“This is a slaughterhouse.”

 

Death Level – 1

“And everybody lived happily ever after.”

“We might have gone to a couple funerals.”

“It just LOOKS like a serial killer was here.”

“Yeah this was a tragedy.”

“Think Gettysburg.”

 

Porn Level – 1

“Everybody kept their clothes on.”

“I guess it was too hot for a bra.”

“Sometimes you got to let everything air out.”

“This is like late night Cinemax in the early 2000’s.”

“Oh. This is porn.”