Zenyaku Part 2
32 pages, 8" x 6", Art by Shaun Craike; Story by Susan Torre, for ordering info email Shaun at scraike81 [at] hotmail.com >>> you can also Like Zenyaku on Facebook www,facebook.com/Zenyaku
I can't believe nor understand how it happened [or didn't happen!] that I never posted a review of the first Zenyaku up here. What the shit!? What happened?
In Zenyaku Part 1, angry teenager Drake is going about his shitty life - he just got fired from his job for coming in late once too often. Suddenly he is surrounded in the street by a gang wearing all black. He puts up a fight but against overwhelming odds he is beaten unconscious, and later comes to in a strange room and sees more of those black-clothed dudes. One of them announces he is the King of the Black Clan, and that Drake's father had been a member. An assassin! But he was killed when he dared to challenge the King. So whether Drake likes it or not, he has been dragged away from his former life in order to replace his father as a member of the Black Clan!
Now, in the second instalment, we soon find out that Drake's mother is being held hostage here, unbeknownst to Drake. The early scene of the Black Clan goon taunting her as she is bound and tied to a chair was hilarious, but I'm uncertain whether purposely so, since he subjects her to that bad guy/monster cliche of licking her cheek. He tells her that she could have had it all! Yet she chose to run off with another! We the reader might assume she ran off with another, nicer bloke, one who wasn't the type of bloke who creepily lick women on the cheek as they are gagged and tied to a chair.
I'll not give away any more of the story, since it's really building up nicely and I must admit that I am in suspense and looking forward impatiently to the next chapter.
If I had have written a review of the first issue here [like I was sure I did!] I would have mentioned the appalling typos/lack of proofreading. This flaw continues to be a problem in this issue. The best example is this: Zenyaku Part 2 has a subtitle. Three words, and each of them is misspelled! It should read:
Zenyaku Part Two : Preparation, Planning and Persistence
but it's written this way:
Zenyaku Part Two : Prepreation, Planing and Persistance
It's a shame that alongside Shaun's often meticulously detailed artwork, and Susan's fascinating and suspenseful plot set-up and introduction of characters, the easily-solved problem of bad spelling and bad grammar really get in the way of proceedings in a jarring manner.