Wonder Man #2: Still Kinda Crazy

Readers expecting Wonder Man #2 to be more serious than Wonder Man #1 will not be getting what they want. And that is probably ideal. Wonder Man #2 unashamedly keeps the absurd humor going, delivering some genuinely chuckle worthy moments.

Wonder Man #2 continues to balance the fairly simple plot (people are out to apprehend if not kill Simon’s friend Randolph) with weird moments from Simon’s day-to-day life. Much of Randolph’s problems center around a quirky kind of luck, both bad and good. Duggan supplies an origin for Randolph, the strangeness of which fits the issue’s overall tone.

The plot in Wonder Man #2, as was the case with the first issue, isn’t the best part, though. Rather it’s moments such as Simon filming an audition tape mid-air with Killerwatt or Grim Reaper attending a therapy session. Duggan certainly pokes fun at the movie industry. And the way Simon and Hellcat discuss Simon’s past highlights the borderline ridiculous nature of some comic characters’ backstories. It’s all good natured, though. To this point the series hasn’t needed to develop or rely on serious character themes which can be a weakness for Duggan. Instead, Duggan proves very successful in cultivating a measure of underlying absurdity in many of the issue’s situations.

Rosenberg’s color choices help make Wonder Man #2 the fun experience that it is. The color scheme overall leans bright but excessively so. It’s as though the entire comic, even the night sequence to an extent, takes place in very well lit rooms or outside in the middle of the day. The mood established by Rosenberg’s coloring is a lively one.

Further contributing to the overall success of the issue’s tone is the high level of detail Raffaele brings to characters’ faces. Features are accentuated well and more liberal linework around mouths and eyes allows for a wide range of nuanced expressiveness. The characters’ expressions aren’t overly broad which could have the result of pushing the humor closer to farce. Here we have detailed, ordinary looking people reacting to or participating in amusing situations. It’s a lighter tone that still doesn’t undermine the characters’ integrity.

Sound effects happen almost entirely at the end of the issue during a fight between Simon, Hellcat, and the Spot. Caramagna does a good job positioning them around and centered on points of contact such as when Simon punches a wall and Caramagna arranges the sound effect in a semi-circle around the point of impact. His color choices fit in nicely with Rosenberg’s work as well.