Starhenge: Book 2 - A Kiss for Atticus #2
Writer/Artist/Letterer: Liam Sharp
Publisher: Image Comics
Starhenge: Book 2 - A Kiss for Atticus #2 is a bit easier to follow than issue #1 was. Here we follow three different characters, each with their own distinct narrative. Yet all three are connected somehow, both to each other and to the overall narrative for the series.
Let’s break things down and see what we can piece together…
Through the Never
A hulking, armored figure—one who bears more than a passing resemblance to DC's Dark Knight—stands alone at the top of a skull-shaped structure. Here he waits and prepares to do what he does best—slaughter machines. But recently he finds himself distracted by visions—memories?—of a woman...
Elsewhere, that same woman is alone at the top of a hill. She remembers visits from a beautiful man that broke up the loneliness. At the bottom of her hill lies a city, all gleaming towers of metal and shining lights. She decides it is finally time to go there...
Another time, another place. A young boy and his father learn to live without the boy's mother. It's good for a time, then the father leaves and returns a demon. The boy finds his calling as a demon hunter, and his travels lead him to the same city...
Lastly, in the depths of space, a hooded figure—a knight—seeks an audience with a machine queen...
Wherever I May Roam
There's a lot going on here, as there always is in Starhenge.
This time around, I was able to grasp a bit more of it.
First, I have a confession to make. When I read issue #1 of this series last month, I bought it basically sight-unseen due to how much I'd liked Book One. As a result, I didn't read the solicitation. So I had been operating under the assumption that Book Two was a whole different arc in the world, following different characters entirely. But the solicitation for issue #1 says, "Amber, Daryl and Merlin appear to be stranded in strangely familiar realms, without any real sense of who they are or how they got there. Will they be able to find each other, and solve the mystery of their surreal captivity?"
Now that I understand what the starting point of Book Two is, I believe it's no accident that we are introduced to three characters—two men and a woman—this issue. I think it's obvious which one of the three is likely Amber. As for the other two, I'm not sure. Logic would dictate that Daryl is the robot slayer and Merlin is the demon hunter, but that seems too easy. I don't know that I have an actual theory of my own yet. Even if I did, the next issue would probably render it moot anyway.
I love the symmetry of all these characters—the old man from issue #1, the woman, and the boy—all entering the city the same way, in a very similar visual. We even see the robot slayer in such a shot, but with a very different setting. There is a lot of symmetry at play in this series, and I've no doubt it's all deliberate, even if I don't pretend to understand all of it.
The robot slayer's plot is really very straightforward. He is alone, and he's very good at sudden, brutal violence against the machines. There's not too much to unpack there.
The woman is tougher. Where and when she resides, it's hard to say. We know she lives up the hill from the city everyone keeps entering. But the question is, did she create the city, or has she always just been so close to it?
The demon hunter boy's storyline is the most involved of the three. We're given just enough time with the boy and his father's relationship to feel the lad's pain when dear old Dad becomes a demon. We get to see the world from the boy's perspective as he finds his calling and confronts the thing that was once his father. What is his role in the overall narrative, where we've been focused on the machines as the main threat? I do not know yet.
And the tease we're left with at the end. I feel like this is probably tied to the graphic novella Ore, which I have not read. I need to remedy that before we get too much deeper into Book 2...
Seek & Destroy
Liam Sharp is a true one-man band when it comes to this series, and I can't picture it any other way. His artwork and coloring continue to display varying styles while being highly experimental. The segments with the robot slayer are painted in a more traditional style, with heavy use of reds, purples, and some neon hues. The solitary man really does bear a strong resemblance to Batman, albeit a gun-toting far-future version. The woman's scenes are a little more dreamlike in nature, with a more muted color palette to go along with them. The portions with the boy are in a style that is very photorealistic, with touches of Ben Templesmith's sketchy style. When the perspective shifts to that of the boy, everything takes on a much more drawn and surreal look, making things appear as they would to an actual child. These pages stick out like a sore thumb compared to the rest of the issue, but they're totally worth it. And the city itself continues to have that futuristic noir feel like Blade Runner, which leaves me anxious to see just what is located within its borders.
The writing and the lettering go together in my book when we're discussing this issue. The story is again a bit easier to follow this time around, with three characters and plotlines that will not only help the characters grow, but also show the outside world just how much they belong there. With the lettering, he plays with different styles in certain spots—in particular, the way the words are presented (childlike misspellings and all) when the boy first confronts the demon is the high point for this sequence, I think.
Hero of the Day
Starhenge: Book 2 - A Kiss for Atticus #2 is another great issue in a series that isn't afraid to slow down the pace and take a few risks. This issue contains three plotlines that are much easier to watch and break down than last issue, which makes it a little easier to digest overall. We're at the halfway point for Book 2, and so far we've had four people walk into the same city for four different reasons. What's waiting for them there, I'm not ready to guess just yet.