When mysterious supernatural powers awaken within him, underground fighter Tommy Brazen realizes his grandfather’s cryptic stories about their godlike abilities weren’t just folklore. As Tommy’s powers manifest in a brutal way, he’s forced to confront the truth of his new abilities and the violent destiny that comes with them. Final Boss #2 gets the story really rolling but inconsistent art and just bad dialogue diminishes the fun.

Written by Tyler Kirkham Final Fight #2 gets things going as Tommy goes from his underground fight to a the mysterious island his grandfather discovered and got his mysterious power that’s now Tommy’s. There’s something that generally works about it all in a B-movie sort of way. Kirkham has mined 90s video games with a dose of Mortal Kombat, Final Fight, and others. There’s a certain charm about it all. But, that charm loses its luster by dialogue that’s laughable at times.

It’s possible Kirkham has purposely done that for dialogue. Tommy talks about breaking his knuckles in a fight but his opponent is getting it much worse… as the opponents head explodes from the punch. It’s D-level cheese that lacks charm and laughably bad at times. Tommy at another moment talks about how his father ran away and they don’t know what his fate is but then soon after he states he doesn’t want to die like his father, a contradiction as to his father’s fate. It’s small things but they add up.

Those small things extend to the art. Kirkham handles the art along with David Miller. Color is provided by Ifansyah Noor and lettering by Zen. Here there’s inconsistency with some art looking absolutely fantastic and other moments, not up to Kirkham’s excellence. It’s possible that’s Miller’s work but it’s noticeable and kills the momentum for the comic. A visual moment involving rope defies physics and logic, again it’s the small stuff that distracts and boy does it. When Tommy arrives to the mysterious island we get glimpses of the inhabitants who aren’t exactly human. There’s talks of gods and demigods but without a more thorough explanation the background visuals turn from interesting to wtf quickly. But, when the art clicks, it really clicks. There’s a violence that’s just so over the top it tuns the comic comedic.

Final Boss #2 much like the first issue is turn your brain off entertainment. It’s not meant to be dissected, it’s one you just roll with. It’s a series that feels like it’s meant to be a bit of a throwback to the past when comics were more visual flash than logic but here the flash isn’t consistent enough to pull that off. You can see what Kirkham and the team is going for here and it has good DNA at its core but two issues in and it overall isn’t quite coming together.

Story: Tyler Kirkham Art: Tyler Kirkham and David Miller
Color: Ifansyah Noor Letterer: Zen
Story: 7.0 Art: 7.5 Overall: 7.0 Recommendation: Read

Image Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

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