Written by: Jon Tsuei & Eric Canete
Art by: Eric Canete & Leonardo Olea
Publisher: Image
Run Love Kill #2 is an amalgamation of different science fiction tropes that feel old hat and it doesn’t really offer anything fresh; instead, it chooses to rehash the concepts seen in the likes of Blade Runner and The Matrix to give it a veil of originality. Unfortunately, we’ve seen it all before and for yet another issue, the story fails to deliver.
Rain is now on the run from the Origami, an organisation that watches over the futuristic city of Pyrat. Believing she has little time left before the Origami capture her and extract the information they believe she has on them, she decides to let her hair down and enjoy one last night of drunken, debaucherous freedom.
I don’t want to bash the entire issue because it isn’t bad per se; it just doesn’t have that pulse that thuds through the pages when you know you’re reading something spectacular. As previously mentioned, the story is bland and familiar; I don’t particularly care about the future of the series. It flaps and rumbles on with no real focus and there is nothing there for you to follow, in fact, I honestly can’t tell you exactly what is going on. There are comics out there that give you questions but also quench that thirst for answers—this doesn’t but I’m not really perturbed by that, I just wish there was more lucidity to its form. Rain, Janus and the rest of the cast of characters have nothing to offer, only blank canvases with broken brushes; I feel that there should be at least something for me to connect with but there isn’t. There are many times in this issue that don’t include any dialogue or description and in these moments is where the artists are allowed to shine.
Eric and Leonardo’s art is second to none. The city of Pyrat is stunning and the neo-noir visuals bring this world alive. The cell-shaded aesthetics remind me of Borderlands (the console game) and the characters have a delicately detailed look that jumps off the pages. The club scene particularly grabbed me and I could hear the music and I could feel the bass in my chest. Rarely do you see artwork bring the comic to life in such a loud and energetic way and these two guys nailed it.
All in all, the story is relatively generic but it is no worse than others that take inspiration from Philip K. Dick’s back catalogue. If you’re looking for originality then maybe this isn’t you but if you are looking for true artistic vision and style, give it a go. It isn’t terrible but it isn’t great. I will not give up on the series. It is clear that Jon Tsuei and Eric Canete can write because they managed to create a world with their own characters and build on it for a run of eight comics—not everyone is capable of this kind of feat. It would be truly beneficial that in the next few issues we have deep character focus and begin to find out a lot more about Rain’s past, because if she is indeed the linchpin of the series, we need to warm to her and as of now, I’m don’t.
