Brain Boy #2 Review
Psy vs. Psy part 2 of 3
Dark Horse Comics
Writer: Fred Van Lente
Pencils: R. B. Silva
Inks: Rob Lean
Colors: Ego
Letters: Nate Piekos
Cover Art: Ariel Olivetti
Review by: Tom Barnett
Issue two opens with Brain Boy, he hates to be called that and Emil Ricorta, the leader of South America’s largest oil power, kicking each other’s mental ass. The surprise is that Ricorta was supposed to be under the protection of Matt Price, aka Brain Boy. Instead, Ricorta is trying to rip Price’s brain apart.
Fred Van Lente does a great job giving a good twist on the super hero/ secret agent story. This is top notch Super Espionage. Mission Impossible meets the X-men. Having said that, it’s Van Lente’s wit that makes this book so much fun to read. He makes Matt Price easy to root for.
R. B. Silva’s pencils are so captivating. Silva really brings the characters to life with over the top and subtle facial expressions. His action scenes are great. There is one page where Price and Ricorta are full on duking it out, that is flat out cool! His details are great as well as his panel layout. One detail I’ve really enjoyed is his repeating use of circles in the panel layout and in the psy effect. Nice touch.
The inking and colors are also excellent. The colors are just gorgeous and bring a vibrancy to the reading experience.
I don’t always mention the letterers, but Nate Piekos, needs to be mentioned here. When you have multiple telekinetic characters talking, the reading experience could get confusing quickly. Piekos keeps that from happening while still adding some special touches to the dialogue. Bravo.
This is a fast paced and fun book to read. All the creators on this book have delivered their best making Brain Boy a definite don’t miss.
Story: 4.5/5
Art: 5/5
Lettering: 5/5
Overall: 5/5
Tom is a contributing writer for Drunk On Comics. You can follow him on Twitter at @tphoto10.