The first issue of Postal introduced a town unlike any other.  It is the residence of the worst criminals that the country has to offer, but they are forced into a peaceful living after having been given one last chance.  The complexities of the town are evident, especially as told through the innocence of the main character Mark, a postal worker who must deal with Aspergers while living his not-so-normal daily life.  No one who surrounds him is innocent as he is, or at least not as he is implied to be, except for maybe the girl that he is in love with, the waitress of the local diner Maggie.  Together the two of them work together to discover the secrets to a mystery involving a dead body, but as soon becomes evident, almost everyone has a secret in this town.

As opposed to the meticulous introduction to this town as seen through the eyes of Mark, this second issue changes its focus, giving both his mother and Maggie an equal voice in the telling of the woes of the town now that people are showing up dead.  Both of them have their own secrets and their own demons, only they are hard to hide from Mark, astute despite his apparent simplicity.  While it is the setting which is abnormal and gives potential for the storytelling, it is through the characters that this issue shines, giving more depth to the already strong concept.  As the story fills out the background of some of the other characters, it provides an insight into what motivates the people in this town.

The first issue of this series succeeded in the unconventional setting and the shock value of it seen through the eyes of Mark.  The second issue was hard-pressed to replicate this success and in truth fell a little bit shorter.  Nonetheless it maintains the momentum throughout and delivers a strong followup to the first issue, and moves the story in unexpected direction, and incidentally using a cover picture to tell the inside of an issue as few comics manage to do.  The combination of unconventional setting and unconventional characters could have been a mess, but instead this is an unconventional success.

Story: Bryan Hill and Matt Hawkins Art: Isaac Goodhart
Story: 9.0  Art: 9.0  Overall: 9.0 Recommendation: Buy