Arcade Kings #2 // Review
Joe sees a bully attacking a few kids for the audacity of playing a video game. He figures that the bully in question isn’t really any match for him, so he tries to help the kids out. The hero and the bully will find themselves working together when someone comes looking for Joe in Arcade Kings #2. Writer/artist Dylan Burnett continues his manga-inspired story with the aid of the coloring team of Walter Baiamonte, Sara Antonellini, Simona Iurato, and Sharon Marino. Burnett’s world gets a bit more definition in a fun and breezy action-based drama that advances the plot in an interesting direction.
Joe has come to Rockview Station. He’s looking to visit an old trainer of his. The bully’s name is Plum. They’re playing a game featuring McMax. McMax was Joe’s trainer. Naturally, there’s going to be a bit of a scuffle. Plum can tell right away that Joe trained with McMax by the way he’s fighting. She counters his moves with speed and ease, but she’s not a match for the hired might of Minerva. She’s working for Joe’s father. He wants her to bring Joe to him. Things are about to get complicated for everyone involved.
Burnett moves in and around traditional competitive fighting tropes in a way that makes them seem ever so slightly new and intriguing. The juxtaposition between Plum and Joe is an interesting one that is thrown in an interesting direction when Minerva shows up. It’s a really simple conflict between three different people, but Burnett works it from angles that are compelling enough to keep it enjoyable from cover to cover. Joe continues to be a fun guy to hang out with as the plot advances in the direction of the brother that he’s looking to find. A major twist at the end suggests Burnett’s strong desire to go against expectations as the series progresses.
The art may lack depth, realism, and finesse, but Burnett has a beautiful grasp of kinetic motion in action. The combat sequences manage to catch the fighters in nontraditional action poses between the panels. Punches and kicks hit the page in unexpected ways that amplify the sense of impact. Joe manages to look impressively heroic even when he’s gracelessly taking a hit...and another...and another. Character design is particularly impressive for the second issue. The design of Plum’s t-shirt and gi pants looks totally badass. That look of determination on her face strikes a powerful note as well. Minerva’s spiky hair/eyepatch combo looks like classic manga. The contrasting red and black of her color scheme feels suitably cool. The big, red gauntlets give her a real sense of menace.
Burnett’s big accomplishment with the series thus far has been the ease with which he’s given everyone very simple and instantly recognizable motivation for their actions. Arcade Kings isn’t a world of simplistic notions of good and evil. So often, this type of story uses that dichotomy as a crutch to launch the action. Burnett is telling a simple action story without resorting to good and evil. Very cool.
