Stumptown, Volume 2, #2 – Review

By: Greg Rucka (writer), Matthew Southworth (art), Rico Renzi (colors)

The Story: Dex Parrios gets closer to a lost guitar and uncovers some more serious criminal activity.

Quick Review: How fussy are you about art?  Can you get “knocked out of the story” by a few little art problems?  If so, you might want to give Stumptown a pass because this is two issues in a row where the art just isn’t getting it done.  That’s really surprising because the art on the first volume of Stumptown was so strong (solid, precise and blessed with moments of inspiration).

Stumptown v2 #1 – Review

By: Greg Rucka (writer), Matthew Southworth (art), Rico Renzi (colors)

The Story: Dex Parios is back with a new case that’ll doubtless be a LOT more trouble than it seems.

Review: I really enjoyed the first Stumptown miniseries.  It may not have ended on quite the high that I’d hoped, but the memory of the first few issues was so strong that Volume 2 was keenly anticipated.

This issue falls into the “good, not great”.  If this was a new series from Image by some unknown creators, the hardcore fringe would be huffing and puffing about how swell this first issue was: splendid character work and a clever, hard-luck PI story.  But, when it comes from Rucka and company and has this much anticipation behind it, well…it doesn’t quite match the anticipation.  Perhaps that is unfair, but it is what it is.

Stumptown #4 – Review

By: Greg Rucka (writer), Matthew Southworth (art) and Rico Renzi & Southworth (colors)

The Story: The final chapter of the inaugural PI adventure of Dex Parios draws to a close as she tries to get to the bottom of a missing woman who has gotten entangled with the MS-13 gang.

What’s Good: This is a good solid PI/detective story and it has some very nice things that make it different from similar comics in this genre.  For one thing, it has a very realistic female lead.  Dex Parios is a great character and I hope that Rucka keeps feeding us stories about her.  What makes Dex so great are how different she is from what we’re used to seeing from female comic characters: She doesn’t have DD boobs, she isn’t wearing spandex, she isn’t promiscuous, she’s pretty but doesn’t do a thing to clean herself up, etc.  And….she’s got some pretty major issues in her life (which she pours out in the best scene of this comic book).  In fact, we all probably know someone like Dex and that makes this a unique book.