Metal Head #2 is a comic written by Michael S. Katz with pencils and inks by Bruno Abdias and colors by Julio Santos. Phil, Janeena, and Pretzel must go on the offense as they are being hunted from all sides. This is a sci-fi story with spaceships, aliens, and extremely advanced technology. The leading man for this story is Phil, a former slave of the aliens who is in possession of a suit that gives him unique abilities he is still trying to understand. With him is the Rokarian scientist Janeena, who is strongly for a rebellion against the Cotevieng overlords. Recently joining this group is Pretzel(Pretz for short), a former waitress whose diner unexpectedly became a warzone. This issue picks up where the last one left off with this trio in a hotel resting and planning their next move. This story takes place in Australia in the midst of an alien invasion where some of the people are forced to work in mines and others live under surveillance. There are themes of revolution and espionage as it is difficult to pin down the trustworthy people. The action here is bloody and explosive with some light gore.  The pacing is steady at first but gains speed in the latter half of this issue with intense moments and a serious and desperate tone. The dialogue has some technical jargon but it is pretty much all conversational with no wordy pages. This is an exciting conclusion to this science fiction series about invading aliens, strange technology, and unlikely alliances.

            The art here is a drawn in a style that is reminiscent of comics from the 1970’s with its shading and focus on detail. There are a wide variety of colors. The primary scenery here is the sky as many key moments have it as a backdrop both in the daytime and at night. The story takes place in a city so you’ll see some shops and two-story buildings while in the mining camp there are tall towers and offices. There isn’t a main location for this story as it starts in a motel but takes us to alleys, spaceships, and different facilities. The backgrounds usually contain parts of the scene such as walls, furniture, and other parts of the environment. The expression level here is above-average with many looks being shown and changes happening on a near panel-by-panel basis. This is a stressful environment so the emotions are angry and desperate with a good amount of confusion. The main characters’ faces tend to have the right amount of detail but there is the occasional slip up. The violence here consists of laser guns and rockets which gives this a Star Wars: A New Hope feel. There are pools of blood and explosions but light gore. The action scenes are lengthy and have an overall good flow but you may get thrown off track sometimes.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes.

“Would I like this?”

If you like science fiction stories starring a mixed-gender and race trio with aliens and strange technology with plenty of violence and taking place in Australia then this is for you.

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

R. Violence, blood, death, nudity.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“You humans have no jurisdiction over us.”

 

Physical Link: https://stridernolanstore.com/shop/ols/products/metal-head-2

Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/riotearp/metal-head-2-a-double-sized-nsfw-science-fiction-story/description

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

Probably Contains Spoilers

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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 49

Violent Pages: 14, for 29% of the comic

Sexy Pages: 1, for 2% of the comic

 

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

 

Violence Level – 4

“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 – 4

“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 – 3

“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.”