The Skyrocket Flies High.

The Skyrocket #2 from Paper Tiger Comics hit the stores this week. Mike Federali and Os Petroli continue their tale of a bad girl trying to go good and it just not going easy for her. The gears shift for issue two. While the first issue gave us big monster fighting action, this one keeps the tension up and the property damage fairly low. We pick up right where we left off with our heroine, Sam Robbins at gunpoint from a hooded assassin.

This issue gives us a bit more in terms of characters. Sam continues to be a smart, confident protagonist who despite having a checkered past doesn't seem to be haunted by it. Nice have a character like this who doesn't rank to high on the angst-o-meter with every action performs for atonement. In fact it Seems Sam still has a bit of bad girl in her, but at least now she's using it constructively. We get to see more of Agent Evans, who finally appears as more then just a guy on a video screen. While I had written this guy off as Government Douche in issue one, he turns out to be a pretty likable guy.

For a couple of guys on their maiden voyage into making comics, Federali and Petroli are handling themselves well. The story is straight forward and doesn't lull, keeping our interest. The art continues to be solid and easy to follow. Petroli does have a bit of a disadvantage in that the story in this issue all takes place in one setting and there's not a huge fight scene. He manages to keep the book flowing well, and that's hard to do in a comic when there's not bullets flying or fists swinging every other panel. Although it looks like we'll be getting that in issue #3. Also credit to them for not going full-on gory in certain scenes that could have easily been done a lot more graphically. Petroli makes it clear what happens, but doesn't make us cringe when it does.

Its a solid book and I'm on board for next month when issue 3 hits.

And if you missed issue #1 and need a little catch-up, you can get it here.