Black Tide #2
Story:
Art:

Written by Debbie Bishop
Pencils by Mike S. Miller
Inked by Armando Durruthy
Colors by James Rochelle & Matt Nelson

Published by Tidal Wave Studios/Image
Price: $2.95

My Verdict: Unimpressed.

Okay, let me try and relate this to you as best I can. Atlantis was destroyed. It might or might not have something to do with Villonious, this guy who was placed in stasis so he could come back aeons later as a regular human. Nevertheless, Villonious did come back as some guy named Justin who's essentially special forces. He gets set up on one of his missions, only to be saved by Kaila, his soulmate from Atlantis, who was brought back to life by the same inexplicable means that the rest of Atlantis was. Now, Kaila, Justin and Theros, who's apparently a prince, are back in Atlantis, where Queen Celestia (whose magical powers are evident by the ability of her breasts to defy gravity) has a bone to pick with Justin.

There's nothing wrong with not knowing what the hell is going on when reading a story. Where the wrong part comes in is when you feel like the creative team doesn't either. The recreation of Atlantis, for example. In the first issue, we see it destroyed in a flashback, then next page over it's back, and the only explanation for how is that it was "recreated with technology beyond our time, by beings regenerated from its ashes." In the second issue's "Last time..." section, it says "Atlantis had been recreated in a combination of ancient wisdom and high-tech engineering." I translate all of this into: "Details? Don't bother us with details! Pshaw!"

Which is a shame, because somewhere underneath all of this detritus and lack of preparation, there's a good story waiting. Some of the dialogue is rather amusing. I'm sure that if all of this were well explained, it might be worth reading. But unfortunately, it's not. The art is about average, the typical action-with-the-occasional-cleavage style that we've all gotten used to over the years. And if it were a bit more coherent, it might be worth recommending to the fantasy/action crowd. Perhaps a few issues down the line.