The Cape #2 (of 4)
Written by Jason Ciaramella
Inspired by a Short Story by Joe Hill
Art by Zach Howard
Colors by Nelson Daniel
Letters by Shawn Lee
IDW Publishing
Released October 12th, 2011
Price: $3.99

There are a lot of comics out right now that deal with fantastic people with amazing powers who are, well, kind of jerks. The Cape #2 (of 4) for IDW Publishing is another one of these books, and it is also one seriously messed up comic. I mean, there is some really freaky stuff going on in this book. And you know what? I don’t have a problem with that because it is one well done comic. How The Cape sets itself apart from books like Irredeemable is that while it has some superhero elements, it is more of a grounded story with normal characters and a situation that many can identify with.

The Cape is the story of Eric, a loser who found a magic cape as a kid that allowed him to fly, but because he didn’t know how to use it ended up getting him in an accident that ruined his life. Eric rediscovered the cape later in life, except by that point he had no intention of using the ability for good. Now, Eric is trying to settle old scores and he’s doing a pretty good job of it. I don’t want to say more, in fact, I may have said too much already, but just know that this issue has a few more horrific scenes that this series is quickly becoming famous for.

The Cape started off as a one-shot, based on a short story written by Joe Hill (Locke & Key), adapted by Jason Ciaramella. The one-shot had a great hook and a surprising ending, but I wasn’t sure how the story would go on when it was announced that there would be a mini-series spinning out of the one shot. The first issue of the mini-series kind of reinforced these worries, as it didn’t feel as fresh or exciting as that original story. Not to say that the story, now solely written by Ciaramella didn’t have its moments, it just wasn’t the slam-dunk that the original was. However, this second issue got a lot of things right, and amped up the creepiness. There are a couple of horrific moments in the issue that shocked me, and Ciaramella got the series back to what made me enjoy it in the first place.

The art by Zach Howard continues to impress with its clean characters and smooth storytelling. Howard does a lot of great work with all the characters in the story, and in this issue, does a particularly good job with the general mood of the book. He draws a spectacular chase scene, and gets across the horror moments in this script. Howard is a name to keep a look out for in the future, because someone is going to scoop this guy up and put him on a high profile book.

The writing is sharp and surprising at every turn and the art is beautiful and tells the story well. This is a great series and this issue deserves the 4 out of 5 that it is receiving. If you haven’t yet, find the previous issues and check this one out. I’m very excited now to see where the next couple issues take the story and how it wraps up.