Review by Frank Plowright

It might have been presumed Danny Dillon’s journey was complete. After all, he’d battled the darkness within himself to successfully give new life to discarded creations in what was intended as a cosmic epic in Volume One. Well, Szymon Kudranski is playing fair as it’s been established Danny wasn’t the only person able to see beyond a veil, just the most powerful. Another is private detective Noa Carpenter, and it’s her story followed here.

Danny’s intervention has opened up new possibilities, which has lead to fictional characters being killed, and Noa begins to investigate in the company of Detective Duck.

What dragged the first volume down was Kudranski unable to drill to the essence of what was being told, but while old habits die hard, there’s improvement here in what’s a far more straightforward set of circumstances. Noa investigates, we’re introduced to the man who nurtures the birth of new ideas, and there’s a good bantering relationship set up between Noa and the duck.

Meaningless diversions still occur, although this time one of them is witnessing the literal birth of a new idea, which wasn’t necessary after the explanation of a character’s purpose, but a touching moment nonetheless. Characters from Volume One are seen again, but for that to have an impact you’d need to have bonded with them in the first place, and Kudranski has a sardonic view of the gods, although one suspects in the case of Thor it’s just a character he fancied drawing.

As before, the art is the star, but Kudranski also sometimes takes the long way round with his illustration. He’s particularly fond of a twelve panel grid, but this time rarely has to accommodate long text blocks as information dumps, and the dialogue flows more easily around the art. The actual drawing is immaculate, resulting in pages to drool over, and Kudranski is excellent at combining two differing styles as per the sample art.

Unfortunately, what could have been a great improvement on the previous volume falters at the end, or rather the lack of an ending. A skirmish ends with a revelation and Noa’s quest was to continue. However, it hasn’t in two years.