Tokyo Ghost #2 Review

Writer: Rick Remender / Artist: Sean Murphy / Marvel Comics Since Rick Remender has walked away from for-hire work at Marvel to devote more time to his creator-owned work, the dedication is more than apparent. Low was already a great title, but the book has seen a serious upgrade in quality (in my not-as-professional opinion). The same can be said for Remender’s latest creation, Tokyo Ghost. The first issue opened up moderately strong, but this techo-action title goes next level in a short amount of time, it seems.

Issue #2 sees Debbie and her techno junkie lover, Led Dent, conned into yet another thankless mission to save their city. This installment definitely switches things up as far as pacing. The series opened up with a lot of fast-paced action, only taking a few brief rest stops for character development and exposition. This time around, there’s an obvious focus on world building and backstory. Remender’s approach in trading “batshit crazy” for order doesn’t take away from the experience, though. In fact, the mission setup on its own, further establishing the hierarchy of just how plugged in this society is, ends up being worth the $3.99 by itself. It almost seems like the people in this city are one half step away from living their entire lives in pod towers like in The Matrix. Visually, if there’s a grade higher than an A+, Sean Murphy deserves it. There are some pages in this book that are so gorgeous, they’re almost obscene. His kinetic panels go out of their way …