When we last saw Bonnie Lass, she had just escaped with her two-man by successfully launching her ship off the edge of a waterfall. We start off issue 2 with the team relaxing with her Uncle Doogan amid the Drunken Leviathan Festival of Kilkenny. The totem she made off with before sparks Doogan's memory and pulls out a similarly styled tablet. They spend several hours (drinking and) figuring out how to read the symbols on it, and eventually believe that it helps direct someone to the famed Eye of the Leviathan. The ship gets fixed up, the crew is off and we get a flashback telling the origin of Bonnie Lass herself. Without getting into too many details here, let's just say it wasn't a particularly happy childhood. But they do find the first marker, only to be surprised by Monet who had been following them all along. To be continued...This issue is more expository than the first. Given the amount of action in issue one, it would almost have to be. It's not all talking and dialogue here, though, and we do see some action in the flashback, and the overall plot moves along well. Some good character motivations are established, and there's a nice bit about Bonnie reaching physical maturity and dealing with her father's lecherous crew. (Though that is me seeing the book as a man; it seemed reasonably realistic, but I can't speak from experience. As a more quantifiable measure, we're two issues in with a female lead and it hasn't passed the Bechdel Test yet.)
The art continues to impress me. Lots of nice linework, particularly on the flowing bits of business like hair and the Art Nouveau flourishes. I especially liked the shot from under the water of the ship sailing off. The character designs for young Bonnie and her mother were quite enjoyable too.
As before, Bonnie Lass is being released digitally first on comixology and iVerse for $1.99. I hope this experiment of Red 5's goes well because A) I'm enjoying Michael Mayne's work and would like to see more of it, and B) it might have a lot to say about other publishers making some serious forays into digital distribution.
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