Writer: Gabriel Smith

Penciler/Creator: Raymond Sanders

Inker: Clement Romaine

Colorist: Sigmund Torre

Letterer: Jessica Jimerson

Publisher: Fantasy Art Comics

Rating: PG

Creator Raymond Sanders’ exciting relaunch of his Fierce title continues with a delightful second issue. Picking right up right where issue #1 leaves off, the new comic nevertheless does a great job of making sure readers both new and returning are completely up to speed with highly effective callbacks to the first issue. This is very welcome and calls to mind the old saying that every issue of a comic could be someone’s first issue. It is for that reason that second issues are in many ways tougher nuts to crack than firsts. Gabriel Smith does a masterful job of striking the right balance between keeping readers up to date on everything that has gone on before and presenting new content as we further explore the origin of Fierce. 

As with issue #1, it’s easy to see creator Raymond Sanders’ art benefiting from being able to rely on a solid team dividing responsibilities and allowing him to focus on what are clean and clear pencils that work to tell the story effectively. The inker and colorist are new additions to the team from the first issue but there is no clash of styles or anything of that nature, the look is consistent from issue #1 to issue #2.

As noted earlier this issue picks up right where the first leaves off and as readers of that iconic know it ended with a dramatic cliffhanger, the fallout from that cliffhanger is where this comic shines brightest really showing the human side of superhuman activities- it is often easy to forget that these characters have family and friends who are constantly affected by the amazing spectacles we marvel at in superhero comics but this comic does an excellent job of showing that every big bang or explosion has serious repercussions. This is a very nice touch. 

All in all, Fierce #2 is another fun superhero book that does a great job of picking up from a solid first issue and pushing the story onwards and upwards. With more story threads coming together it will be exciting to see just how it all shakes out, do yourself a favor, and check it out!

William Satterwhite is the creator of the superhero webcomic Stealth and a freelance designer, internet consultant, and illustrator living in Douglasville, Ga. His professional website can be found at www.williamsatterwhite.info.