Comic - Death Sentence: London #2

Steve Taylor-Bryant rejoices in another issue of the comic that's more insane than he is, Death Sentence: London #2...

I am a little later than I’d like to be with my review of Death Sentence: London issue 2 but Monty Nero’s work is like a fine wine – Gulp it down, fall over, and then wait for the hangover to clear before dribbling on your laptop.

London is still reeling and the population are queing around the block for G+ tests after the recent events. Weasel is in the free zone formally known as Brixton and partying with people that are glad they have G+, one can instantly grow mauriwana, but whilst Weasel’s mind is willing his body is not able and he wishes he was dead and reunited with his son. Jeb is also struggling, his daughter doesn’t want to know him and his wife is frustrated as he doesn’t seem able to slip back into family life. Back in London the Mayor decides to announce some extreme measures including prison for G+ sufferers that are unlicenced, and a sex ban on anyone suffering G+, and social networking restrictions, much to the annoyance of the population. Weasel is still traveling through some kind of dream state as Jeb's wife gives him the 'job or us' ultimatum when Weasel arrives at Jules house and has a heart to heart about what Monty did and the death of their son. They organise a memorial service where a drunk Weasel turns in the priest demanding to know where God was during all the death when they are disturbed by tanks which are disbatched in short shrift by an angry Weasel and a watching band of vigilantes that look alien like. Back in the U.S. Jeb is practising his resignation speech when he's called to the Situation Room. The director and Jeb discuss the events in London and the director tasks Jeb with visiting the island scientists are developing a vaccine for G+ on and stealing it so they can protect America.

At the end of the issue a couple of newspaper reports introduce Creighton Baines, the man behind the protest mask and The Invaders, the group wearing alien looking masks doing the protesting which is followed by the letters page, which is as entertaining as the comic I promise you!

Monty Nero has been on point politically and on a human level ever since issue one of the original Death Sentence. In amongst the depravity and carnage Nero layers feelings and emotions that don't seem to exist in 'regular' comics that much anymore. Yes Weasel losing the plot and taking out the tanks is incredibly entertaining and learning new phrases like 'cumguzzling goatfuckers' is essential for personal growth (what just me?) but boil it down to its essence and you see a distraught father lashing out after the untimely death of a child and that's both understandable and touching. You have Jeb who has to balance a home life he craves with the fact he can do something great through his work, an unenviable task if ever there was one. Monty Nero writes trouble, fucked up scenarios, and death better than any other creator out there at the moment but the real humanity underlying every page is astonishing. Martin Simmonds wasn't an artist I was familiar with before Death Sentence: London began and I really thought I'd miss Mike Dowling but Simmonds has taken the story and done his own thing which works incredibly well and he seems really in tune with Nero which can only bode well as the series progresses, the dreamlike crawl that Weasel goes on that surrounds the panels in places works so well and Weasel as a character has really come to life with Simmonds drawing him.

I have been in love with Death Sentence since first discovering it and I genuinely don't know how they manage to go a step further issue by issue. I've now stopped worrying about Monty Nero's sanity, let the madness continue uninterrupted.

Image - Titan Comics

Buy DeathSentence #2 direct from Titan Comics