Comic Review: Border Town #2

Border Town #2

DC Vertigo

Writer: Eric M. Esquivel

Artist: Ramon Villalobos

Border Town #1 set us up for a unique take on supernatural mysteries with a gang of teenagers at its core. In that way, it feels much like many teenage “Mystery Gang” knockoffs, but I love that niche genre so much that it’s always a fun read. The difference is the mythological and supernatural flavor that is injected into this story. The series premiere was a good start. Let’s see how the sophomore outing is.

Shaken by what the foursome witnessed in the first issue, they decide no one will ever believe them and keeping the encounter to themselves is the best option. This never happened in Scooby-Doo and it doesn’t happen here, either. We get to see more of the cute creature, the Chupacabra, in this issue. He is chased from his dark realm back into Earth bringing other nefarious creatures in tow who want to capture or kill him. This issue was not as fun as the last, but it is still moving the story forward. Mainly, what is lacking in this issue is the action with Frank and his experiences in Devil’s Fork.

Eric M. Esquivel did a great job in the last issue bringing the mystery to the readers and the world of creatures and Devil’s Fork. I also noted his refreshing take on teen dialogue in the previous issue; that has taken a step back here. Some of the dialogue here is simply not as spot-on. Perhaps he is doing this to make the characters more distinguished, but instead, he is hitting the pitfall that many writers do when trying to write youthful characters. The other glaring omission is the lack of political and social commentary that drove the first issue. Judging by some of the shirts worn in this book, it looks like that might still crop up, but it was noticeably absent here.

Ramon Villalobos is still going a good job here. I can’t help but feel that something from his life inspires Devil’s Fork. His artwork fits the material so well that it almost seems like his story. He gets to cut loose a little here at the beginning of the book with the mythical creatures in their world. He took full advantage of the panels in that realm creating the colorful beasts.

Border Town is still very much in it’s infancy, but I highly recommend jumping on this bandwagon. It shows promise of a fun tale with great monstrosities both cuddly and fierce. Vertigo has had plenty of success with off-the-wall ideas, and Border Town is a welcomed addition to the catalog. Esquivel manages to fit in some classic DC references for the fans, but this is very much a non-superhero book that is needed right now.