Review - Broken Pieces #2

The brilliant scientist is often a character that is a troubled soul. Typically, their genius is a gift and a curse. While they're always on the verge of solving all the world's problems with one formula, they're also one twist of fate away from suffering at the hands of an experiment gone horribly wrong. Dr. Richard Adams is such a scientist.

Mark Roslan continues writing the near-apocalyptic story that's illustrated by Micah Kaneshiro (colors by Beth Sotelo and letters by Josh Reed) and published by Aspen Comics.

The second of the five issue series is a little scattershot. It jumps around in time, providing multiple looks at Dr. Adams' relationship with his wife. Dr. Gabriella Adams too is a brilliant scientist and together they've proven to be just the duo Trinion Industries wants for their latest research.

The reader shares in Richard's excitement at finding a potential cure for almost everything that plagues mankind. However, as mentioned earlier, this is where things go horribly wrong, changing the lives of both for Richard and Gabriella.

The second issue was more backstory than anything, primarily into the relationship between husband and wife. The pages where Richard meets Gabriella's mother for the first time was nice and provided a look at a vulnerable Richard. This was a great contrast with the transformed Richard, who is seemingly unstoppable.

Roslan has created an interesting story. Richard is the man whose one desire is to help humanity, but it turns out that in the end he may do more harm than good. Kaneshiro's art is very dingy in a way, which fits with the setting. One complaint though are the panels where Kaneshiro depicts Richard as the monster.

Those panels just look so different when compared to the rest of the issue. It's almost like those panels are only half-complete and I can't help but wonder if their look was intentional or not. It's a relatively minor complaint, but those scenes are pretty important within the context of the whole story, so it's a little troubling that they look the way they do.

Broken Pieces #2 is a small step in the story's five-issue run. It's relatively uneventful as far as the primary story goes, but it does provide vulnerability in Richard. The ending of the issue even seizes upon that vulnerability as well and could take the story in an interesting direction.

Broken Pieces #2 is in stores February 22. Check out some interiors and a trailer below.






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