The Strangers #2

The Strangers #2 (July 1993)

Writer: Steve Englehart

Pencils: Rick Hoberg

Inks: Tim Burgard and Larry Welch

Letters: Tim Eldred

Color Designer: Keith Conroy

Editor: Chris Ulm

Cover Art: Pencils: Rick Hoberg; Inks: Tim Burgard

Variants: None known.

My summary/review (Just as a note of warning, there are all kinds of spoilers in this review):

Title: Hey!  Hugh!  Get off’a McCloud!

The group that assembled in issue #1 is back chasing after the cloud that appeared at the end of that issue.  They are chasing it in a jet, I guess it pays to have a rich person on the ‘team.’

We get a nice quick recap of the first issue…remember when comics did that?  Just a few panels of exposition to get a ‘new’ reader caught up.  Miss those days when things were not geared towards trade paperbacks.  We also are told their names and powers in quick one panel bits.

Hugh is definitely interested in Candy.  As he shows his interest, they fly into, and then promptly out of the cloud.  Dave decides to leave the plane, because he is alive, he figures the cloud cannot mess with his internal sense of direction (or whatever) and he will carry a homing beacon for the plane to lock onto.

It works and they find an Island floating in the sky.  They land (barely) and are captured pretty quickly.  Their powers are negated, but Bob figures out that they only were able to compensate for the powers they knew about and uses his power in a different way to translate the sound waves of their speech into an understandable language.

While the Island natives argue, The Strangers escape.  A short fight later, they’re all talking.  The Natives have answers for them, but will not spill.

They send them on their way with Yrial in tow.  They decide on the name The Strangers to call themselves as they search for answers and others that were on the Cable Car with them.

Mr. Brushnell says that his cancer is talking to him.

Johnny Domino is still alive and in the hospital.  Soon to be Nightman.

Someone finds the gripman from the cable car and kills him.

Mr. Hunt orders the jet and The Strangers killed to protect his interests.

Well, overall this was a much smoother issue than the first.  The plot did not feel as rushed as the first one did, and there is still about 6 months worth of modern comic story in these pages.  The Strangers get a name, a new team member and the mystery deepens.  There are also hints of things to come, not a lot given away, but enough to keep your interest..