Review: POSTAL: DELIVERANCE #2
[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]
Creator:Â Matt Hawkins
Writer:Â Bryan Hill
Artist:Â Raffaele Ienco
Letters:Â Troy Peteri
Reviewer:Â Tony Farina
Summary
Based on the cover of Postal: Deliverance, we can tell this month is going to be bloody. When we last visited the Edenverse, Erik has killed a whole bunch of people just because and Mark, who is now the mayor, is called in deal with it. He does. It is…biblical. That is all you need to know for now.
Meanwhile, down in Florida, Pascal is getting his education from Laura. That is going as terrifyingly as you might expect. When an angry killer tries to train an angry bullied boy using a bat, well, that is pretty messed up. Things get bloody.
Positives
Postal: Deliverance is simply stunning. The work that Raff Ienco is doing is poster worthy. Granted, you would have to like your posters to be reminders of the horrors of humanity. Take a look at his work below. It seems as though you are just looking at fallen objects and some blood splatters, but there is so much going on. Even if you did not read issue one of Postal: Deliverance, you would understand what is going on. A bar, a brawl, a disaster. Ienco wastes no space and he packs a punch with each line he draws.
The tone set by Ienco is ramped up by Bryan Hill. There is so much happening in the spaces of this book. When Laura is training Pascal, the script does not require a lot of words. He lets Ienco’s work tell the story he is writing. Honestly, this entire book might have been able to be done with no dialogue at all. Each panel tells a story. When Mark hugs his daughter or when Laura leaves the phone unanswered, readers see the struggle and can recognize it within themselves. Yes, readers of Postal: Deliverance have not spent time in Eden, but they have dealt with inner demons and have made decisions they regret.
Negatives
Nothing to report. This book is practically perfect. It knows what it wants to be.
Verdict
Laura says, “There are no victims Pascal, there are only winners and losers.” That pretty much sums up Postal: Deliverance. This is a book that takes a hard look at what violence means and why people perpetrate violence while not just glorifying it. Mark is a violent man. Clearly, his past is ugly. Everyone who lives in Eden has an ugly past and yet, in Eden violence is not allowed there. Why is that? Who thinks it is a good idea to put a bunch of monsters together in a town? I suspect these questions will continue to be answered as this gripping series continues. Two issues in and the tension is real. Pick this up, but keep it away from kids.
