Comic review: 41 vol. 2 #1

That's right.  Its signed.  You wish you were me.

It has returned!  Bob Frantz is back with another tale from the post apocalyptic world of 41.  Its been 41 years after a meteor strike wiped out nearly everything and mankind is working to claw its way back.  In the first volume we got a paramilitary squad.  This time, we shift gears with a new cast, new story, and a new artist.

This starts off as an old school kung-fu theater revenge story with a sci-fi twist.  Human experimentation led to a martial artist becoming very powerful, but the same experiment ended up wrecking his body.  Now widowed, he has trained his young son to get revenge.  Its not clear whether the boy also underwent experimentation, but the entire town they were from did so that would easily explain this kid's level of bad-assery.  This level of bad-assery comes in quite handy as Elroy, the big bad responsible for the human experiments and other hoorible type things, has a bunch of armed guards ready to take out the kid and his old man.

I really like that Frantz is taking the opportunity to explore something entirely different in this book.  The feel of it is entirely different, and in a good way.  It keeps the world of 41 fresh and exciting.  Also with the focus being on just two main characters instead of a whole team its easier to jump on board with this new series.  The artwork by Hoyt Silva is a big departure from the previous artist.  Its a bit more cartoony, which may seem off-putting considering how harsh much of the action is, but then again people complained about Steve Rolston's artwork being too cartoony for QUEEN AND COUNTRY and it only won an Eisner.

Glad to have more of the series coming out, and am excited to see where this story goes.  Check out more about this at the offical site!