Second Chances #3

Second Chances #3

Image Comics 2021

Written by Ricky Mammone

Illustrated by Max Bertolini

Lettered by DC Hopkins

The sordid history of Leblanc and Miss Nobody’s messy affair is finally revealed in a flashback to Rio. Surprisingly, a healthy relationship cannot be forged on a foundation of gunplay, heavy drugs, and deep, dark secrets. Go figure.

So this issue we get a twofer, two for the price of one as it were. We get how Leblanc and Miss Nobody meet and we get to learn something of Leblanc’s origin as well and his own personal history is equally as interesting to me as their torrid affair. I always find it interesting when places like the CIA use places like Brazil as somewhere to put an asset. It also amazes me that the world sees the shiny Rio and not the majority of it that’s slums, crime and a dangerous place to exist but that’s another story for another time. I do like how much backstory is given through this issue and how much more we’re able to understand the characters through what we do see. Also the embers of two kindred souls finding one another, yeah that’s nice and ill-fated from the get-go but it still goes a long way to getting us to understand their history together.

I’m very much enjoying the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented exceptionally well. The character development that we see through the narration, the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter and it does a marvellous job in fleshing out their personalities.

I am liking how we see this being structured and how the layers within the story continue to emerge, grow, evolve and strengthen. I like how we see the layers open up new avenues to be explored and how these add so much depth, dimension and complexity to the story. The fact that she was under his protection, how she manipulated him and how he blindly followed orders all these things are what adds that mystique to their relationship that we see playing out in the present. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is exceptionally achieved.

The inteiros here are without a doubt some of the most gorgeous we’ve seen in some time. The black & white style with gray tones are utterly spectacular. The linework is exquisite and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create this level & quality in the attention to detail that we see is phenomenal. The backgrounds that we see being utilised to bring out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story is incredibly well rendered. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a remarkably talented eye for storytelling. The gray tones and how we see them age brick or add depth, dimension to hair and clothing or even help us see musculature is expertly rendered.

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For someone who gives folks a second chance at life it would seem that Miss Nobody is his achilles heel. When the past rears its ugly head and it comes with more than emotional baggage than you’d care to admit you do some silly things like we’re seeing within these pages. A kind of fixer or equalizer, Leblanc is very good at what he does and yet for the kind of chaos that Miss Nobody brings to his life there’s no amount of skill or training that can prepare you for what ensues.