Get ready for Fallen World #2, the second thrilling chapter in Valiant’s explosive event series!

Rai’s creator and most dangerous foe has returned! The cyborg samurai faces an impossible challenge. Can he stop his greatest enemy from gaining even more power? 

Fallen World is series that uses the building blocks established in 2016’s 4001 A.D. and the final arc of Rai that was published concurrently. Although you can still enjoy the current series without having read the 2016 books that laid the ground work, you may very well miss the weight of some of the connections between characters (re)introduced in this issue – and possibly some of those yet to come. It isn’t the end of the world, however, to not fully grasp the intricacies of those relationships and the back story that you’ve missed if you’re starting with Fallen World. Valiant’s propensity for ensuring that new readers are able to start (almost) anywhere is on full display here, and you’ll get the bare bones of the previous events – and that’s honestly all you need.

Written by Dan Abnett with art by Adam Polina and colours by Ulises Arreola Fallen World #2 is every bit as good as the previous issue.

My love for this series is, in part, due to the analogues to our current world. There are clear problems between humans and their former slaves, the artificially intelligent positrons, leading to some powerfuly haunting moments in the first issue. The second issue introduces us to a religious sect that worship Father – or rather their idea of Father, crafted to suit their needs. It’s a series of undertones that add what all great science fiction has, and that is a powerful modern relevance despite the book being set two thousand years in the future.

In terms of the characters themselves, the plot is rather straight forward as Abnett focuses on establishing some pieces that will play out deeper into the series; the threat of Father’s new body, the possible solution to that and the end page reveal. All pieces to the tapestry that he and Pollina are weaving with the story.

My expectations were pretty high coming into the second issue, especially given how I felt about the first (as a side note, Fallen World #1 was the first comic I bought two copies of because I liked the covers – usually I buy a couple copies if one is a blank sketch variant). This issue is one of those comics that narrows down the scope and focus of the story, and ends up making the entire premise that much stronger.

Story: Dan Abnett Art: Adam Pollina
Colors: Ulises Arreola Letters: Jeff Powell
Story: 9.1 Art: Overall: 9.0 Recommendation: Buy

Valiant provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review.