Renato Jones, Season Two: The Freelancer

Renato Jones #2

by Kaare Andrews

Mysterious vigilante Renato Jones showed the One% that for all their money, for all their power, they are not untouchable. But now they're pushing back, and resulting class warfare may be more than even Renato can handle. When full-time villains control the whole word the only hero who can take on the job is self-employed... a Freelancer.

KAARE KYLE ANDREWS proudly presents Season Two of the most dangerous comic on the planet!

Collecting Renato Jones Season Two #1-5

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics

136 pages, Paperback

First published January 24, 2018

About the author

Kaare Kyle Andrews is a comic book writer, artist and filmmaker

Reviews

[David Edmonds · Rating 4 out of 5]

What started out as a satire of the current political climate in the US quickly grew into a scathing commentary about where we are probably going as a country. Renato Jones is Andrews way of dealing with the mess that our country has become over the last couple years, and it is brilliant, hyper violent, and continues to be one of my favorite books Image is releasing right now.

[Zedsdead · Rating 3 out of 5]

The vigilante terror of the one percent is back in this series-concluding volume. All the chips are on the table now: the oligarchs have won the presidency and Jones is the only one who can save the world from profit-motivated nuclear annihilation.

I thought the first volume was unsubtle, but this...
--The villainous president withdraws from the "Paris Treaty" to manipulate the oil and solar energy markets.
--He gives Russia a private office in the White House to make things "easier". O_O
--The definition of "illegal immigrants" is expanded to include the children of those who refuse to pledge allegiance to the president.
--A mob boss is appointed Attorney General and recuses himself from recusals.
--Money laundering charges are dropped in exchange for loyalty pledges.
--Health care is repealed and replaced with "Wealth Care".
--Americans who protest Russia are extradited to the Kremlin to face charges.

It goes on in this vein. And I thought I was pissed about this administration, ha!

In the grand finale, the Trump stand-in reveals himself to be a demonic, bloated, pustulent avatar of rampant consumption; he personally controls 50% of the world's wealth and cannot, will not stop lying, stealing, and destroying until he has it all. That's a hell of a (well-earned) indictment.

While I'm sure writing this was cathartic for the author--and gods know it had me chortling with cynical glee--the actual writing was hit-and-miss. When [Trump] and his co-conspirators are onscreen plotting, the book sings, but the good guys...motivations are muddled, choices don't always make sense, the narrative gets unnecessarily chaotic.

Andrews does some very cool things with the art, switching between and sometimes even mixing color with b&w, and oh man that two-page spread of the family caught in a nuclear blast is the straight up tits. But the action sequences are frenetic and scattered; it's all splosions and heroic leaps and action lines. Tiresome.

Renato Jones is worthwhile, but...this title was better when the hero was infiltrating and taking down evil rich bastards one at a time.

[Chloe Dean · Rating 3 out of 5]

For some reason I couldn't get into this one as easy as season 1.

The first 2 issues confused me abit but this could all be down to the fact that I haven't read season 1 in at least a year.

I found the dialogue abit unnatural at times and it sort if threw me off, like when (spoilers) the guy had a gun pointed at a cop and kept calling him an SJW. I dont think anyone has or would say that IRL and it just felt weird (end of spoilers.)

I also couldn't tell what was actually happening and what was symbolic art at times.

After reading the authors note at the end I get why dialogue and things were abit off, the first book was satire of what might happen. Then it happened and they had to make satire of nuclear war threats and the Nazis coming back. It has been a strange time so naturally, the book will be stranger and more off the walls.

I enjoyed the ending and that it was seemingly happy. It was a pretty strong conclusion and I love when Renato is sad his face is blacked out. Like another mask he wears but its just for the reader.

[Paul Allard · Rating 3 out of 5]

The second volume of Renata Jones carries on the plot started in Volume 1 as Renato is pitted against the plutocrat rulers of the USA. Power mad individuals use violence and threats to get their way.
I’m not blown away by this series which is not that easy to follow, mainly because of the artwork (lack of clarity, strange use of colour- maybe I’m getting old!) There might be more but this looks as if it could be the end of this concept.

[Martin Lund · Rating 2 out of 5]

Where the first volume took a political reality and skewed it somewhat out of joint, this adds more of what we are all talking about when the comic was being made and turns it up to eleven. While that's not bad in itself - we need to talk about these things - the way it's done comes off as a hyped up CNN crawl and its all framed in hyper-individualist superhero trappings, meaning that the systemic nature of the inequality and racism that the comic works with remain completely uninterrogated.

[Cale · Rating 3 out of 5]

You can very much tell that this is an attempt at dealing with current events via fiction (Andrews raises the issue in his prologue). Dealing with corruption, complicity, and a whole lot of other conflicted issues between the rich and the poor makes this volume a little more cluttered and unfocused, but also a bit more relevant. I'm not sure it earns its ending, and it didn't really stick with me, but it was definitely an interesting series.

[Laine · Rating 3 out of 5]

this series starts off as satire and quickly becomes scathing commentary in the second volume, given the political nightmare we live in now. still doesn't pull any punches. not the hugest fan of the ending of this one, and overall wasn't as entertaining as the first volume, but looking forward to more from andrews.

[Gonzalo Oyanedel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ya superados los cuestionamientos de su primera miniserie, la cruzada de Renato Jones toma un cariz más espectacular y pirotécnico en desmedro del cuestionamiento social que su autor - involuntariamente - lanzó en su primera historia. Y si bien no es una mala secuela, se nota el freno puesto a dicho trazado anti-sistema.

[z]

- not as fun as No. 1. not really fan of the political commentary, which hardly ever ages well.