Klik Klik Boom #2: Far From Being Blase

RECAP

Assassins overrun Sprout and Serena's flophouse hotel only to find Sprout has turned the building into a booby-trapped kill box of dirty bed sheets and polaroids. Surrounded by chaos, Serena discovers Sprout hasn't come to New York City just to play dress-up...but to murder a man.

CREATIVE TEAM & COMICS INFO

Author: Doug Wagner
Artist: Doug Dabbs
Colorist: Matt Wilson
Letterer: Ed Dukeshire
Publisher: Image Comics
Genre: Action, Drama, Mystery, Psychological
Published Date: 07/26/2023

REVIEW

The second issue of Klik Klik Boom can be described as a “Fifth Element Meets Home Alone” issue. The protagonist, Sprout, protects her new aspiring journalist friend, Serena, while also setting up traps at a hotel to take out the Minerva World Services henchmen that are after them. Serena is scared out of her mind while Sprout looks like she’s having the time of her life. Later on, Serena is learning more on how to communicate with Sprout through her polaroid-based communication style and figures out that not only is she a target, but Sprout is targeting someone at Minerva World Services as well.

Cover Art

The cover art was created by the issue’s artist and colorist, Doug Dabbs (The Ride: Burning Desire) and Matt Wilson (Thor, The Wicked + The Divine), respectively. It’s a perfect display of the issue and story at hand, using Polaroid pictures as frames that Sprout is excitedly leaping through them as she is taking out their aggressors while Serena is pressed against a while, smiling uncomfortably. It’s truly one of the best covers this year.

Writing

The writing by Doug Wagner (Plush, Beware the Eye of Odin) is phenomenal. It opens the issue with action-packed scenes, showing the different emotional states between Sprout who is extremely calm and also excited in the face of danger while Serena is having an anxiety attack through the entire issue. The humor is witty, the written flashback scenes were a natural fit with what was happening at the moment, and then the issue resolves with a slow-down pace as Serena talks to Sprout more about finding out who she is and what she’s trying to accomplish. This truly is a fantastic piece of art for comic book writing.

Artwork

The art by Dabbs, colors by Wilson, and lettering by Ed Dukeshire (Irredeemable, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers) was, simply put, wonderful. The illustrations were cinematic and one can easily see how this could serve as a storyboard for a movie version of the story. The colors had a wonderful balance and utilized color palettes to draw emotions to the scenes (e.g. the use of yellows in the opening panels with the aggressors and the hotel clerk vs. the orangish hues with Sprout and Serena). The lettering that was done when traps were sprung was just perfection in giving the reader that sense of realism in providing that sound effect for them.

One area that readers could get lost with the art is the page where the aggressor is trying to get into the hotel room through the window and then all of a sudden he gets tied up and launched through a hole inside the room. It wasn’t clear how this happen, given that he was outside the window in one panel, then all of a sudden inside the room the next. However, one of the best panels from this page is the flashback memory when Sprout’s grandfather’s silhouette shining through the alcohol on the floor. This was just so beautifully done not only as a work of art but matches and heightens the tone of what was being said in the dialogue.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Klik Klik Boom is one of the best stories to come out from the comic industry this year. A perfect balance of humor, action, mystery, and drama, this series is worthy of everyone's pull list.