Welcome back to the technological parkour comic Bonehead. Issue 2 has shied away from the quick pace parkour life style action and has replaced it with background information on several characters including Hideki Kray AKA Gladiator 32, Aleph Kray who is Bonehead 56 support, and Bone 56. While revealing several pieces of information about their pasts, futures, and situation the comic begins to set the stage for how the first arc will play out as Bonehead along with several others will influence the freedom the city will achieve.
The Good:
The comic does an excellent job of throwing a curve ball with the character Hideki Kray. Hideki Kray, Gladiator 32, followed Bonehead 56 back to the home of his younger brother, Aleph Kray. When arriving there it is revealed that Hideki use to be known as the hero Black Death who fought to free the city, but has become a Gladiator (cop) who enforces the rules. In response, Hideki makes it clear that he wanted to do better than Black Death and felt that becoming a Gladiator was the only way to achieve that goal and make the city a freer place. This reveals what type of person Hideki is and what he believes in as he wants the city to be out of the control of corrupt individuals and gangs. This is further backed up by his decision to allow his younger brother to support Bonehead 56. Rather he wants the data that is being collected by him so that it can be used in ending the corruption and gang wars that are occurring throughout the city. At the same time, we learn about who Aleph Kray is and his motives. Aleph is a tech scientist who discovered a nonresponsive Bonehead 56 and took it upon himself to upgrade him and introduce several different nanobot technologies into his Bonehead. The result was that Bonehead 56 became able to communicate, move faster, and see things that can’t be seen by a normal Bonehead, all while being linked up to Aleph. This provides insight into Aleph’s goals as a person as he wants to create and expand what Boneheads can do for medical and scientific reasons. Bonehead 56 is his answer as he is seeing how well he performs and in turn how to adjust him to further advance the technology. The city provides the best testing ground to do that. While Aleph’s goals are selfish at first glance he is supporting and making sure that the city is heading into the direction of become freer with Bonehead 56 at the helm. Finally, the comic begins to answer several questions about who Bonehead 56 is. It is revealed that Bonehead 56 has been constantly updated and interjected with different technologies that allow him to operate and move the way he does. In particular, he is able to perform various parkour moves that others cannot duplicate. This has caught the attention of Tyrant the leader of The Kings, a small vigilante group, who has heard he moves like the hero Black Death. Tyrant makes it clear that he will be testing Bonehead 56 to see if he is as good as they say he is. This sets up a conflict between them that can lead down two different roads; one being an ally to take back the city or the other being an enemy that will stand in the way.
The Bad:
The comic lacks the fast pace parkour action elements that the first issue had. This is due to how it is developing the characters of Hideki and Aleph, while providing background information on Bonehead 56. This information is important to the overall story, but is a slight let down due to the lack of action that is portrayed in this issue. Furthermore, the comic introduces a sub-plot that focuses on a new wave of drugs hitting the streets of the city. While this is interesting the comic does not make it clear how these drugs, the gangs, the Gladiators, and the overall freedom of the city are affected by it. This breeds confusion as to how everything is related to one another.
The Verdict:
Bonehead issue 2 definitely expands where the comic can go as we learn more about who Hideki, Aleph, and Bonehead 56 are and their pasts. By learning about this we begin to understand who these three individuals are; what has influenced their lives and choices and how it will affect them going forward in their life achievements. At the same time the comic does fall short as it has minimum action compared to the first issue, breeding confusion as it introduces a sub plot that is not connected well to the main theme of the comic (yet). As a result the comic is a tough read as parts of it establish strong characters, but at the same time parts of the issue seem random and do not make any sense as to where the comic is going.
