Romulus #2 Review

Written by: Bryan Hill

Art by: Nelson Blake II

Publisher: Image

In a stunning twist, it’s actually really easy to put into words how awful Romulus #1 was. Twelve pages of the most boring, trite exposition imaginable, tedium (somehow), an edgelord character who swears despite the self-censorship, and a bland, bland art style. It managed to be everything I hate about YA fiction without the dystopia.

Now normally the next sentence would be, “And issue #2 is somehow worse!” but that isn’t quite the case here, nor is it possible. The bar was set is so low that it’s now chilling with earth worms and mole people and wondering if it will ever see the sun again.

As of Issue #2, no. No it won’t.

So I hate everything about our main character. She feels fabricated to appeal to teen women as a “strong female character who bucks the rules and doesn’t afraid of nothin’,” which isn’t wrong. She does those things. The problem is, she does them in the most blatant, pandering way possible that it just comes off as offensive. A long time ago, I reviewed Divergent. This comic reminds me of that.

She swears a lot (all of which is censored, as I mentioned), can ignore pain, is tactful and smart, can beat people up that are way outside her weight class unless the plot doesn’t want her to, and is apparently the chosen one to take down Romulus. Even hot psychic pop stars are after her because that’s how this comic rolls!

Also, her name is Ashlar. Doesn’t that just make you cringe?

Or to put this comic in a different light: The first conversation Ashlar has with Nicholas, Nicholas volunteers to make her super-hero gadgets like adding armor to her jacket or a Etzio-styled palm knife because what? Ashlar pulls out her tooth in rebuttal to show him she means business, and Nicholas backs off right away because…okay, I’m still honestly stuck on why he thinks he should make her superhero gadgets. That’s immersion-breaking levels of stupid.

This is followed by a bunch of more stupid things that involve the aforementioned popstar (who is a member of the Illuminati because of course she is), a boring fight, and a cliffhanger ending.

All the while, the artwork is passable but mostly boring. It’s maybe a step up from the first issue, but there’s still no real charm or flair to it. It looks like a comic book. Well, it looks like a boring comic book.

The rule I’ve seen passed around between comic book fans is to give a series three issues. First impressions are hard to make, and sometimes it takes another issue or two for things to really pick up, for the story to find itself. I’m reminded of both Kaptara and Snotgirl, both of which I was sour on until Issues 2 and 3.

By that logic then, I owe Romulus one more chance. But let’s be real here: The bar I mentioned before is buying a house in mole people city because it knows it’s going to be living there forever.