The Autumn Kingdom #2 Review

W: Cullen Bunn

A: Christopher Mitten

C: Francesco Segala

L: Taylor Esposito

In last issue, Sommer and Winter's parents were taken by these monsters in the woods of Sweden. We left off seeing Sommer and Winter starting their quest to get them back. In this issue, there's a ton of action, and Sommer and Winter find a shelter and place to ask questions.

I thought this issue was a lot of fun, and advanced the plot. We get more information on why the girls parents were taken, but there's still a lot of mystery to unravel. I found the characterization marginally better for Bunn here. We're seeing that Sommer is perhaps a bit more rough around the edges and Winter is more timid, but that doesn't really stay consistent throughout the issue. I feel it's something of a missed opportunity to have these two characters be so similar when they could be contrasting and bringing different strengths to the table. This being a 4 issue series, I'm doubtful that these characters will see much growth from here on out. I have no doubt they'll experience a lot, but I also don't think we know the first thing about them which makes it less impactful to follow their story. Regardless of that, the story itself was interesting and fun and I enjoyed reading it! The amount of lore that Bunn could have lurking in the background really keeps me invested.

Mitten's art was what I expected after reading last issue: I mentioned in my last review that he had the "off" face here and there, and that did continue - however, there were more instances in this issue where he was able to convey plot points through facial expressions, so a big improvement there. Additionally, his action scenes rocked again. They were awesome and worth the price of admission. Additionally, I liked how creative Mitten got with the panels in this. Here the panels are anything but traditional, and there are no gutters. Also note the awesome action I had mentioned before.

Francesco Segala's colors were pretty great. If you're into bloodier books, this is for you and Segala really makes that blood pop off the page. Segala also did more of the same as he did in issue 1: he uses color palettes consisting of different shades of the same color, which I really like. It's awesome because a characters face will not look the same when illuminated by a fireplace as it does when underneath moonlight. Segala should be seeing a lot more work on big name books soon.

Taylor Esposito on letters. I attended a lettering panel at Baltimore Comic-Con recently and it gave me even more appreciation for lettering, but especially as far as page design goes. There are parts of this issue that get dialogue heavy but Esposito works the dialogue in in a way that doesn't confuse or bombard, but splits it out and keeps the speech bubbles positioned in a way that guide the reader through the pages. Zero question at any point which text to read next. Also, excellent sound effects once again. Excellent work by Esposito, as usual.

The Autumn Kingdom #2 from Oni Press hits stands Wednesday October 9th and I think that this book will fit right in with your other Halloween reads. $4.99 isn't my ideal price point for a book like this, and I can't speak to paper quality as I read it digitally, but I think it's definitely still worth checking out.