Review - Captain Ginger Season 2 #1 (@AhoyComicsMags)

"Woof woof woof."

There are plenty of facets of space humanity knows nothing about. One of them is a place where cats intelligently seek out other life, like in Captain Ginger Season 2 #1 from Ahoy Comics. "Captain Ginger: Dogworld" is written by Stuart Moore, penciled by June Brigman, inked by Roy Richardson, colored by Veronica Gandini and lettered by Richard Starkings and Comicraft's Jimmy Betancourt. "Extra Credit 2: The Spud" is written by Tyrone Finch and illustrated by Alberto Ponticelli. "Paper Jam" is written by Kit Josephs and illustrated by Ryan Kelly.

The acclaimed saga of cats in space returns for a devastating second series! Captain Ginger and his feline crew embark on a vast, six-issue adventure when they follow a mysterious hyperspace signal to the home of their unknown canine "cousins." But trouble aboard ship may doom them before they even meet the dogs!

Moore carries most of the issue with "Captain Ginger: Dogworld" as a tale rife with plenty of dog and cat humor as to the two encounter one another for seemingly the first time. The encounter works well in terms of allowing Moore to infuse the issue with plenty of stereotypical behavior on the part of both animal types, although there's still a larger drama unfolding as well. Moore's dialogue is very fast-paced and borders on banter, playing out in a very entertaining fashion. Finch's tale in "Extra Credit 2: The Spud" is a bit more sanguine, in that it features an emboldened science experiment turning on its creator and set against the throes of a budding high school romance. "Paper Jam" allows Josephs to explore one of the more horror-inducing aspects of a corporate job, offering a bit of levity to a situation that should be simple yet often incites rage.

Brigman's pencils in the first tale are extremely adept at capturing a variety of different cat and dog types. In a story such as that a lot of its success hinges on successful anthropomorphism and Brigman does an excellent job of rendering the animals in a way that convinces the reader they're intelligent and capable animals. This is further emboldened by Richardson's inks and Gandini's colors, both of which provide further differentiation amongst the cat types and provides for more of a galactic vibe. Ponticelli does a fantastic job of envisioning what a jealous potato science experiment would look like as it hurtles through the air at someone. And Kelly adds the right amount of tension to "Paper Jam" with office workers cowering in fear from the dreaded paper jam.

Captain Ginger Season 2 #1 excels at dramatizing the mundane. From cats and dogs squabbling to a high school experiment to a day at the office, each of the scenarios offers a glimpse at how they can turn out differently than expected. Moore uses pretty entertaining dialogue to characterize the cats and dogs, Finc's script is a dramatic retelling of a science fair and Josephs raise the stakes when it comes to a print job. The art team on "Captain Ginger: Dogworld" of Brigman, Richardson and Gandini is the right amount of strange, while both Poticelli and Kelly punch up their stories with some levity. Captain Ginger Season 2 #1 is the right blend of humor and drama that is very creative in its approach.

Captain Ginger Season 2 #1 is available February 5.