Comic Review: Bolero #2

Image Comics

Writer: Wyatt Kennedy

Artist: Luana Vecchio

Letters: Brandon Graham

Bolero #2 is a dizzying read, as disorienting as it is mesmerizing. Wyatt Kennedy uses the in medias res technique to great effect, plunging readers into Devyn’s search for a new life, several jumps into the mind-bending journey.

The series reads like an artist’s dream, with Vecchio cooking up all manner of brilliance for her brilliant pages. We open with Devyn as a southern bell wrapped in a baby blue hourglass dress. But our modern hero can only suffer the aristocratic patriarchy so long, bailing on hop #8.

Readers are immediately thrown into the far-flung future as a male Devyn wakes up with a bloody nose, watching Natasha tumble through the cosmos outside the window. “God, I hate that part,” Devyn laments as Natasha calls for her to join. The pair then watch a black hole feed, allowing Kennedy’s poignant writing to shine: “We held each other and watched as three planets dissolved as if they never existed. I’m seeing her for the first time, but it’s not the first time.” They profess their love for one another, and Devyn thinks, “This is the easy part.”

Following an Evangelion-esque title card, the issue progresses in completely unpredictable fashion. We see a series of hops, enmeshed, intertwining–Natasha and Devyn as Crusades-era warlords; Devyn as a pop princess who wants to murder her mom; a futuristic, perpetually orgastic Paris.

Bolero #2 is sexy and violent as hell. Vecchio’s art transforms from one hop to the next, utilizing an array of color palettes and alternative character designs. In a woodland fantasy setting, a ninja-like Devyn meets a giant wolf with massive antlers. On the following page, she sits in the middle of the desert atop an ancient statue. Devyn wonders why she can’t penetrate a new life, why she can’t recognize the simplest of feelings: happiness.

Issue #2 comes to an explosive, bloody conclusion, then sets Devyn up for a unique trip on her next hop. For the first time across her many selves, she won’t be searching for anything. Instead, she’ll make the life she wants to live. At least, she’ll try.