Good Deeds #2: From the Ground…

Good Deeds #2is a natural next step for the narrative of this mini-series, focusing a bit more on how our characters interact with and stumble into the dark under dwellings of St. Augustine. The story opens right where the first issue left off at, Cheyenne and her mother dealing with the repercussions of Mr. Fosters death. As the town begins to make its moral mindset clear, Cheyenne is duped into making new friends, and with them discovers the town’s darkest secret. In the mean time, Jean decides to stay in town and follow her journalists’ intuition and begins to investigate some of the odder happenings she has begun to pick up on.

What many will find most enjoyable about this issue is the slow, tactical flow of this story. The book rarely moves from beat to beat, instead allowing its characters to roam free throughout the world crafted in this book and stumble into the horror plot naturally. It makes the more engaging and much deeper than most at a plotting level, allowing readers to get to know every little thing about its characters without having to be told about any of it. If you’re someone who loves a richly written character narrative, than look no further than this story, No developments here occur magically, and instead you the sinew of personality morph and expand in Jean and Cheyenne especially as the issue goes on.

The horror in this issue is just as slim as the last, however it takes two different forms here. The world building in this issue is the horror itself, the town of St. Augustine growing to be a hostile and lore-ridden place. While not everyone here is a monster, it’s clear that the evil in this town isn’t simply supernatural, it’s locked within some of the people who call it home. There’s a scene with Mrs. Foster, as well as another with the town’s festival committee from issue #1, that highlight the town’s qual parts sinister and desperate tone.

The second bit of horror is the personal one. Cheyenne faces down more of her subtle social anxiety here in this issue, and it’s warming to see her break from it when we see her social circle expand. Seeing as how Che Grayson is attempting to tell this story stepped in the real world, it’s nice to see that the book continues to be well balanced in terms of its uncurious philosophy. There are parts of life both good and bad, and the debate in the characters heads regarding whether or not the codes they made were positive or negative is supported by the fact that horrible things always occur alongside moments of positivity and peace. Jean’s nightmares seem to trail her in both the real world and the dream world, and act as another thematic tie between the supernatural and the natural being equally terrifying.