Tap or Die #2 is a comic written by Christopher Curtis with illustrations by Emilio Utrera. Iris continues her winning ways and Domino makes his return from injury after being set up. This is wrestling comic with all the backstage drama and palpable animosity that entails. The leading lady for this story is Iris, a fighter in Tap or Die who keeps winning and has eyes on the championship. The main man for this story is Domino; he was an up-and-comer with big potential before getting injured in a fight against Randy. The story picks up a good deal after Domino’s injury with him still recovering in the hospital; meanwhile Iris is out here fighting hard to maintain her undefeated streak. There are unanswered questions and plenty of uncertainty going around about who was responsible for the incident. This takes place in a world where there are serious pro-wrestling style put on TV. The action is physical with no blood or gore. The pacing is steady with plenty of panels for you to focus on. The tone is serious with plenty of tense moments. The dialogue is conversational and aggressive with witty quips and comebacks. No wordy pages here. This is an interesting follow up issue that builds up the drama and suspense for the next installment.

            The art here is in black-and-white, well shaded, and has a slightly cartoonish style. Besides some early scenes of a beach with crashing waves we don’t see much of the outdoors. The primary locations are various areas of the arena’s backstage from the showers to the lockers and even to the boss’ office. These places have all the fittings needed to seem alive and in use.  The backgrounds have an even chance of showing part of the scene or just solid/gradient color. The expression level here is high as these are wrestler-types so showing emotion is half the job. The range mostly consists of angry looks with the occasional smile but we do get a nice look at some sad and remorseful feelings. The faces are usually chock-full of detail so each expression they give off comes across very clear. The violence involves wrestling with the occasional strike but there isn’t any blood or gore. The action scenes flow well with a nice focus on specific moments.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes.

“Would I like this?”

If you like wrestling stories starring a man and a woman who are black with violence and backstage drama then this is for you.

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

R. Violence, nudity, sexual situations.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?

“I would destroy you inside the ring.”

 

Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/decay/tap-or-die-2-a-sexy-wrestling-comic/description

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

Probably Contains Spoilers

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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 24

Violent Pages: 5, for 21% of the comic

Sexy Pages: 4, for 17% 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 – 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 – 5

“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.”