It’s not really a police state if everyone in the state IS a member of the police. No. It’s not a police state; it's just...weird. And dangerous for outsiders, as a group of adventurers is about to discover in Pathfinder: Wake the Dead #2. Writer Fred Van Lente weaves an appealing little adventure with artist Eman Casallos and colorist Jorge Sutil. Traditional sword-and-sorcery fantasy is tweaked in a fun direction with an enjoyable ensemble in the second issue of a series that still seems to be finding its momentum.

It’s a city in Nex called Ecanus. A certain group of adventurers finds themselves in the city. And they find that the entire city is drawn against them. They’re all police, and they know they all attack. Though the adventurers ARE formidable, there’s no way that they could possibly take on an entire city of guards. (In a few hours, they would be exhausted and forced to join the pile of corpses they’d built in the process. It would be a horrible mess.) The adventurers DO find their way to safety...only to find themselves in a different danger altogether by a necromancer named Nyctessa. 

It’s not uncommon in fantasy fiction for a group of adventurers to be on the run from a town guard for whatever reason. It IS uncommon (and virtually unheard of) for the town guard in question to be the entire population of the town. Van Lente twists traditional fantasy tropes in interesting directions. With the character of Nyctessa, he may have run the risk of creating a supporting character who is A LOT more interesting than any of the main characters in the ensemble. A strangely vivacious and flirtatious necromancer? It’s such a cool idea. And Van Lente levels a hell of a lot of charisma on her too.

Casallos and Sutil create a sword-and-sorcery fantasy city that feels just alien enough to be something else altogether. It’s a fun exploration of fantasy with clean lines and smooth textures that seems to take place on another plane of existence entirely. The overall lack of rough textures DOES feel a little bit weird for the genre, but it’s got a definite visual appeal about it. The gloopy coagulation of massive streams of blood feels particularly atmospheric. (The party’s escape from the city is...fun...) It’s a nice contrast to all of the cleanliness of the rest of the issue, but Casallos and Sutil even manage to make THAT look smooth and sanitary. 

Just give Nyctessa her own series. Really. She’s cool. Van Lente’s work is really fun. The overall feel of the action continues to find interesting ways of framing old fantasy. If the team can maintain the weirdness of this particular fantasy world, this particular series could end up being much more than a comic book based on a game. It’s been a lot of fun so far.

Grade: A