If you read our review of Stumptown #1, you know that I found myself elated at this new creator-owned series from Greg Rucka and Matthew Southworth, courtesy of Oni Press. As enjoyable as that first issue was, I'm quite happy to report that Stumptown #2 is even better.
In the debut issue, Rucka took his time to dive the main character Dex's personal life, ranging from her gambling problem to being the caretaker of her mentally handicapped brother (two things which, coincidentally, don't mix well). While we still get a great portrait of the character Rucka is building with Dex via sharp dialog and Southworth's fantastic body language work, most of this issue is focused more on developing the plot.
Normally I tend to lean away from favoring plot development over character development, but Rucka manages to blend the two together seamlessly in this issue. Dex is on the hunt for Charlotte Suppa, but she's apparently not the only one. After getting shot and left for dead, Dex begins weaving together that Charlotte may somehow be involved in the Marenco crime family. It doesn't sound like the most original of plots, but that's where Rucka's genius lies. He's able to take a familiar PI tale and drastically alter it using original, fully realized characters: most of which falls squarely on the back of Dex.
Matthew Southworth shines once again both in his spectacular pacing and his fine attention to detail, all the while never making the artwork too clean cut and maintaining the grittiness of the issue. When you pick up this issue (not if, but when), check out the sequence near the end where Dex leaves one suspect and heads to another location. It's a few pages with no dialog, yet Southworth says so much using panel composition, background/pedestrian detail and his layouts. It's moments like this that make Southworth's work a cut above the norm.
At the end of the issue you'll be treated to a fairly in-depth look at Southworth's drawing process, and it'll become immediately clear as to where his attention to detail comes from and the amount of effort he puts into each and every image.
With the first issue, Oni Press delivered a great start to a promising new series, but with issue #2 they've solidified Stumptown's place as one of the best indie books on the shelves. Seriously, do yourself a favor and get on this ride from the beginning.
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