Review by Ian Keogh

In 2021 the three hundred pages of Volume One combined what had been previously issued over two shorter books in 2015. Wale Williams has been given an armoured technological suit in which he can fly. As originality was hardly a priority for Roye Okupe’s plot, let’s just say Iron Man is the obvious influence, although there are a few minor differences. With the considerable help of his friend Zahra Martins, now also a superhero, he rid Lagoon City of a terrorist organisation, yet as is the way with a superhero series, one threat is just replaced by another.

While some dialogue is still stilted, obvious explanations for the audience, not the characters, Okupe has upped his game for Volume Two. The new problems are more intriguing, his doses of history connect with other YouNeek series to cleverly reveal the armoured suit’s power source, and while he’s supplying the action and explanations Okupe is also further building his world. Old mysteries revived are more threatening. For instance, it was thought terrorist Oniku, with whom Wale had a personal connection, was dead, yet here are a group with similar methods and abilities, while artificial intelligence also proves problematical. As before, Okupe spends time with the entire cast, not just the heroes, although he’s still using the dramatic convenience of vital information being withheld when there’s been plenty of time to pass it on.

Also improved from last time out is the art of Sunkanmi Akinboye. An ability to tell the story clearly was always present, as was his like of technology, but now his people aren’t as stiff and more effort is taken to include backgrounds.

A puzzling aspect of the series is why only Wale gets title billing. Zahra has been an integral component from her introduction around a third of the way through Volume One, and indeed has sometimes carried entire chapters on her own. Her back story has been saved for this volume, clumsily referenced the first time it’s mentioned, but tying in with what later happens in other series.

Connections are made and expanded, and allegiances shift as Wale learns power isn’t his only option as he undergoes a thoroughly disturbing set of experiences targeting him personally. Okupe features too much standing around discussing matters in a secret base, but the planetary threat evolves well, and he ensures that in Wale’s case it isn’t just the suit that makes the man. A thrilling final race against the clock caps a much improved performance, and means Volume Three is something to anticipate.