Sporkman Goes to Japan Volume 2 is a comic written Eric J. Berry & Charles Bonetti with art by Gifny Richata. Sporkman is in Japan when a giant lobster attacks! This is a science fiction superhero comic with a bit of drama, light romance, and Japanese influences. The main man for this story is Sporkman, he is an American superhero with the power of the spork who is currently on exchange with the Advanced Defense Force in Japan. During his stay in Japan he is accompanied by Natsume Wubi, a woman skilled in hand-to-hand combat and with multiple weapons. The story begins with the ADF going head-to-head with a lobster that is terrorizing the town of Kagoshima. When their nets don’t work Sporkman and Natsume decide to get up close and personal. The violence here is hard-hitting but there isn’t any blood or gore. The pacing is fast during the violent moments and steady to slow outside of that. The tone isn’t as comedic as earlier issues as danger is present more frequently and there are many intense moments. The dialogue here is conversational with mid-battle quips and jokes. There is the rare thick text bubble but no word-heavy pages. This is a high-tempo issue that has a large amount of action, hints of romance, and it provides us with a bit more information about what is really going on.

            The art here is detailed and semi-cartoonish with clear manga-influences. This comic is in black-and-white and features decent shading. Aside from the opening battle against the lobster in a small neighborhood most of this story takes place in buildings with the only scenery being the sky. The main location for this comic is the ADF headquarters but specific areas like Sporkman’s quarters, security rooms, and the main hall. The backgrounds for these areas are split between showing the surrounds and being all-white. There are a significant amount of action lines though. The expression level here is around average as Natsume does most of the heavy-lifting and Sporkman’s main tool for emoting are his eyes. The range here mainly consists of anger and rage with a bit of shock thrown in. The faces are decently detailed and show the different expressions clearly for most characters with Sporkman’s mask having eyeholes that move like they are flesh and eyebrows that sit on the outside. The violence here is physical with a lot of swordplay and big hits, but no blood or gore. The action scenes tend to have a high number of panels with an overall good flow though you might get a bit confused in certain moments.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes.

“Would I like this?”

If you like science fiction superhero stories with a bit of drama and romance that star a man and woman and features a lot of violence and manga influence then this is for you.

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

PG-13. Violence.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“Good luck with that. She’ll probably punch you.”

 

Purchase Link: http://www.getspork.com/japansample.html

Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sporkmanstudios/sporkman-the-greatest-utensil-who-saved-japan/description

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

Probably Contains Spoilers

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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 32

Violent Pages: 21, for 66% 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 – 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 – 1

“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.”