The second issue of Eureka was the same in terms of page length, but it contained twice the content of the first issue. For the most part, this is a good thing. Sometimes you need to slow down and take a look around you, sort of like Jack Carter does on the opening page.
The first issue hit hard with a hostage crisis between the crazed Eric Brogan, Sheriff Jack Carter and Deputy Jo Lupo. Issue #2 shows us the fallout of the crisis and gives a background to Brogan. While we were initially thinking that Brogan’s back-story had Wolverine written all over it, we were glad to know that there is a reason for the stressed out soldier to be stalking the town of Eureka. Brogan is out to find Nathan Stark in an attempt to get retribution for the experiments performed on him.
The introduction of Taggart, the over-eager animal expert, created a nice romantic dynamic for Jo, a story device that many comics forfeit for the sake of explosions. Taggart doesn’t wise-crack as often as Carter, but that isn’t his role. Carter can’t catch Brogan on his own, so Taggart will be a welcome addition in the manhunt.
There were a few cringe-worthy lines in the comic, like when Brogan kidnaps Allison. When Allison informs Brogan that he is ill and needs to go back to Global headquarters, the madman replies, “No, I need you to keep driving. And you need that too if you need — to keep breathing.” Ouch. Usually lackluster lines like that are reserved for the last few seasons of Heroes. As the comic continues, maybe it’d serve the writers to brush up on their dialogue skills. It also would help the comic to amp up the bizarre nature of the town. Show us more bubble guns. Take us into the headquarters so that we can understand why this town is so special. At the moment, the only thing separating the town of Eureka from our own is that a crazed killer is on the loose. If you’re living in a big town, this may not even be something unfamiliar to you. So, in short, Eureka needs to step up their attempt to weird us out.
The minimalist illustrations of Diego Barreto continue, allowing for the story to carry us through the comic. However, after looking back at the television series closer, we would like to see Barreto define the characters in the manner they were presented in the show. We’re not asking for him to spend hours providing brilliant environments. Just make the characters’ faces stand out from other comics we read.
If the first issue of Eureka was a stripped down hero/killer story, #2 is the character tale, filling in the gray areas that we had about our protagonists. If we can get quirky characters and brilliant technological gadgets along the way, we’ll be even happier. Eureka #1 was good for 3 out of 5 stars. Issue #2 is an improvement, good for 3.5.
You can pick up issue #2 of Eureka in comic shops now.
