Black Cloak #2: Waking Up

With issue #2, Kelly Thompson is able to bring us more into this fantastic world that she has built. We start with our protagonist awakening to the realization that they are still alive! It’s a bewildering experience to wake up after evading death and it takes her quite a minute to process what’s going on. Throughout this issue we continue a journey of our protagonist continuing to figure out the mysteries that are swirling around her as she also reflects on her own memories of the past. Every exchange that Phaedra has with another character in this issue is fun to read, and the way Thompson always writes characters just has such a refreshing feeling to it. Thompson is able to use dialogue in such a way where the side characters are able to reveal some information while still having the reader wondering what their intention might be. 

I really love the distinction of scene color work that McClaren uses during this issue. For the flashback scene I loved the shift of colors becoming different shades of greens to signify how while we might easily remember something the image might look different. We also are able to see a strong distinction in expression of Phaedra in these flashback scenes that reveal she has gone through a lot since that time period. Then with a second flashback scene we get different black and white colors as this flashback is told from someone else’s perspective. In the last few panels, we also get a perfect display of how McClaren flourishes in their skills of using color.