The Good
While issue #1 of THE TWILIGHT ZONE did a great job at capturing the magic of the original television series, issue #2 does a great job at building on that and successfully bringing it over to the mainstream comic medium. Writer J. Michael Straczynski throws some action and a bit more suspense into this issue, and it's a ton of fun.
The whole issue isn't just action though, JMS spends the first half of the issue building up the return of the fake Trevor Richmond in a very public way as he tells the press he's come back to pay for his crimes for embezzling millions. From there, the real Trevor Richmond, who now goes by the surname Riley, finds the man who changed his life so he wouldn't go to jail to try and change back.
This issue is great at giving the reader a recap of issue one while sprinkling in a lot of new information. Basically, it's extremely friendly to new readers without boring those who caught the first issue.
The action kicks off with a bang in a very natural way. Nothing here feels forced and the book has this fantastic flow from start to finish. JMS is putting together something that is not only a ton of fun but also crafted insanely well. It has a very natural flow, and JMS does a great job at reeling readers in with a final page that leaves the reader in a state of suspense. I can't wait to see the real Richmond and impostor Richmond come face-to-face, but sadly, we'll have to wait another month to find out what happens.
Artist Guiu Vilanova, with Vinicius Andrade on colors, does a solid job throughout the issue. Where his work really shines is in his page layouts, though. During a flashback scene with Wylde, Vilanova does a really cool job here with placing Wylde's head in the center of the page because he's narrating the scene, and placing panels around him. All of it is sepia toned, which looks great and adds to the tone of the scene. There's a few very interesting scenes like that in this issue which keep the pages fresh and fun.
The Bad
The line work gets a tad shaky during certain scenes, but it's pretty easy to overlook, since the rest of Vilanova's work is relatively solid. Vilanova's page layouts are his strong-suit.
The Verdict
TWILIGHT ZONE #2 is an incredibly fun issue that takes the mystery and intrigue of the classic television series and throws a dash of action into the mix. JMS does a great job at keeping this second issue friendly to brand new readers. The art is ok, but the layouts are where Vilanova shines in this issue. Overall, this is a really fun read and Dynamite has something very special here that is a blast to read.
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