Killtopia, Volume 2

Killtopia #2

by Dave Cook, Craig Paton (Artist)

Killtopia is set in future Japan, and follows a salvage hunter called Shinji and his robot sidekick, Crash. Japan's about to get WRECKED! The bounty on Crash's head has gone public, and Killtopia's deadliest Mech hunters are ready to collect. Leading the charge is King Kaiju; a mechanised corporate mascot of death, who belongs to the evil Kaiju Cola Mega-Corporation. There's just one problem: the world's greatest Wrecker - Stiletto - has gotten to Crash first. Their explosive showdown sends Stiletto's peak celebrity status into a flaming tailspin that threatens to change Japan forever. Meanwhile: Rookie Wrecker Shinji and his sister Omi have been blackmailed by crazy Yakuza crime lord Saitoh. He 's given them 24- hours to find Crash and deliver him to his gang, or he'll kill them both. Together with underground hacker group Koshiro-23, our heroes plan a dangerous heist to save Crash from Stiletto's clutches. The explosive battle for Crash has begun. Who will get to him first, and what do they plan to do with him? Whatever happens, it's going to tear Japan a new asshole.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction, Cyberpunk, Dystopia

64 pages, Paperback

First published October 14, 2019

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing second volume - didn't keep my interest in the way the first volume did, and the quality of the artwork seemed to slip as well.

I've lost interest in seeing how the story continues/finishes.

[Freja Lindquist · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cool concept, awesome art, absolute shit storytelling. Like a poorly paced game, with excruciatingly long cutscenes, and painfully underwhelming action.
I really like the pretty colors, though.

[Aaron · Rating 2 out of 5]

Surprisingly, Shinji isn't entirely bad at this whole hero thing.

The problem? It turns out the mech he saved in Killtopia, Crash, is a rare specimen, an ujyou, and everybody whose anybody will tear the city apart to get their hands on a mech with a mind of its own. Yeah, that could put a damper on the whole hero thing.

KILLTOPIA #2 ratchets up the pressure and the pain and the paranoia, as word of Crash goes public and Shinji and Omi seek shelter for their own sake. Of course, when the world-famous bounty hunter Stiletto shows up, nothing good ever happens. The same with the missile-toting mech with Kaiju-Cola emblazoned on its hull. More threats are sure to follow.

This second volume of the indie comic is loaded with so much background information and plenty of character details, readers will probably spend twice as long reading this chapter than the previous one. Fortunately, the writing is fairly tight. Shinji shares more panel space with his friends, including his sister, Omi, and an old flame (funnily named "Blaze"). The expanded cast better frames Shinji's endeavor and positively integrates this one guy's simple and selfless effort to save his sister into a much fiercer plot of the urban underground to tear out the local government by the roots. This could get interesting.

KILLTOPIA #2 is less visually polished than the previous effort. Most of the current volume sports blurry line art and character details so indiscernible their expressions become irrelevant. Shinji and Omi's ongoing conversation about learning to trust one another amid the chaos of Killtopia would mean a whole lot more if one could read their faces. The cascading array of friend-foe-friend delineation that Crash must navigate to survive getting nabbed by Stiletto would be a lot more entertaining if the art, quite simply, was sharper than it is.

Well, at least the cameos are fun. Stan Lee. Kaneda's jacket. A Tachikoma. Schulz's Peanuts. And plenty more.

[Komuniststar · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fali mu uvjrljivosti u kompiliranju.

[Mee Too · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is about to be some nonsensical japanese anime type ish.

The art is still cool, fun coloring, story plot thickens etc. issue 2 complete.