It seems as though the current trend in comics lately has been to take everything dark, gritty and ultra-violent. Although I love many of the comics that fall into that category, it’s nice to get a break from that occasionally and immerse yourself in a great, dramatic story – minus all the gore. That’s exactly what The Lookouts is.
In the first issue, the group learns of a dangerous new threat to Yarrow Village – a Sphinx, which has decided to take up residence in magical Eyrewood Forest. Unsuspecting travelers to the village are faced with the Sphinx’s riddles, and well, let’s just say he doesn’t give second chances if they don’t answer correctly. In order to defeat the Sphinx, the teacher of the group decided to take them to practice their riddle-solving skills on a bridge troll.
This issue picks up nicely where we left off with issue #1 – immediately placing us at the bridge to face the troll. In the first issue we got a glimpse of Dore as the loose cannon of the group and that character development is further explored, as he antagonizes the troll and simply wants to fight him without dealing with his “stupid” riddles. What’s nice about this issue is that we get to see a bit of background on Dore and exactly why he has become this sort of hot-headed, stubborn young man. Without spoiling the story, I’ll just say that things don’t go quite as planned with their training and The Lookouts have yet to make it to the Sphinx.
Mommaerts’ art and McCool’s writing really go together perfectly. The art seems fantastical and friendly and the panels just catch your eye. The details are pretty spectacular, too – and not just within the story, but the inside cover, and the back cover, which gives the illusion of a wood carving. As soon as I opened the comic I immediately felt drawn into this fantasy world. As far as the writing goes, McCool has done a great job of setting up the characters and now he’s starting to really dig into them, which I’m really enjoying.
Overall, I would give The Lookouts #2 an 8/10. It’s a great story for all ages and is a very unique find amongst today’s comics. Whether you’re a fan of the fantasy genre or not, this is a series worth picking up.
