Tony Black reviews Penny Dreadful #2…
The horrifying truth of Mina’s disappearance is revealed to Vanessa, Sir Malcolm and Sembene, and they realize they face a foe that exists outside anything they’ve encountered. As they frantically regroup, they learn they are not the only ones with a score to settle with the monster in their midst…
SEE ALSO: Check out a preview of Penny Dreadful #2
Titan Comics are taking a very interesting tack with their spin-off comic from Showtime series Penny Dreadful, written by series writer Krysty Wilson-Cairns (who we interviewed recently). The second issue continues the scene-setting laid out in the opening issue, taking place within the first season and looking to sketch in certain gaps John Logan’s mysterious, Victorian-age horror series has left largely untouched. In this case, it’s the story revolving around what became of Mina Murray, very much the gambit of Season 1 and of course tied up with the legendary story of a certain Count Dracula, only seen and mentioned here as the ‘Master’.
The climax of the first issue saw our spooky heroine Vanessa Ives, staunch partner Sir Malcolm Murray and his enigmatic associate Sembene on the search for Mina, only to run into a suspiciously absent-from-the-show but rather important character in the Dracula mythos: Jonathan Harker, who alongside friends Quincey Morris and Lucy Westenra has turned into a vampire-hunting group leader seeking out his wife, and amidst serious explosive tensions between he & the righteously angry Sir Malcolm, Harker proceeds for the majority of the issue in flashback to detail Mina’s marriage to him and ultimate corruption by the Master, and it’s a creeping, blood-soaked story filled with violence and proclamations of seductive devilry. Wilson-Cairns knows her characters and details the Jonathan/Mina backstory neatly, slotting it within the established S1 narrative and lore.
Even more profound than the writing however stands the glorious Gothic artwork from Louie de Martinis, capturing the effortless Grand Guignol-style of the show that has so enraptured viewers for several seasons, dripping his page with occult symbology around vivid, bleak, striking demonic colour and substance. It’s sumptuous, not to mention how impressively he captures the likenesses of Timothy Dalton & Eva Green in his drawing, to a degree you rarely see in comics.
Given the recent announcement Penny Dreadful is ending at the climax of its recently premiered third season, this new comic run is one to be savoured as nicely sitting alongside the TV series and accentuating the story.
Penny Dreadful #2 is out now.
Rating: 8/10
Tony Black is a freelance film/TV writer & podcaster & would love you to follow him on Twitter.
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Originally published July 1, 2016. Updated November 14, 2019.
