Dirty Work At The Crossroads #2 is a comic written by Joshua Metzger with art by Carlos Nieto. Though we spend the majority of this issue following Sunday Childs as she attempts to complete her mission she is not the only focus. We get introduced to some new characters and others we’ve seen before have expanded roles. And though some characters are morally grey a couple draw a line in the sand. The plot gets impacted from a variety of angles as just about everyone we see has goals that we are in the dark about. I believe this issue is less violent than the last but it still has a decent amount of action. The dialogue has light wit and more snark and the conversations are realistic. This is a setup issue and even though there can be oodles of words on the page it reads at a normal speed for the most part. This means the story isn’t too bogged down while we get important info relayed to us. This second issue will leave you with more questions than before and you’ll want to continue this series in search of the answers.

            We hit up a few locations previously seen but the majority of this takes place on the streets of the city where Queen Mab resides. This comic moves from person to person constantly so we get a smaller look at a bunch of different places. Maybe it’s because the world is a bit too dystopian but the main expression here is still on the anger side of the spectrum. Face sameness is a thing here and the majority of the women have it bad. But they do have different hair colors so chances of confusion are low. While most of the less human characters only wear pants the humans are dressed like auto mechanics with armor or residents of Tatooine. Most of the equipment is standard hard sci-fi fare like guns and robots but there was one piece of technology that was very intriguing. The action scenes are hard hitting and move fast and the extended ones flow well. Besides a couple of sex workers no one is significantly sexualized.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes.

“Would I like this?”

If you like women-led(from all-angles) comics in dystopian futures with very light cyberpunk vibes taking place in a rough-and-tumble environment this is the comic for you.

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

R. Gore, nudity, and a TW: SA scene that only features on one page.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“The Mother sure doesn’t leave much to chance.”

 

Digital Link: https://nosleeppress.gumroad.com/l/rqQyo

Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1654060790/dirty-work-at-the-crossroads-2-a-post-apocalyptic-tale/description

Indiegogo Link: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/dirty-work-at-the-crossroads-2/x/26236710#/

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

Probably Contains Spoilers

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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 22

Violent Pages: 7, for 32% of the comic

Sexy Pages: 2, for 9% 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 – 4

“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 – 3

“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 – 4

“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.”