Review: ‘American Ronin’ #2 Breaks Rules

Writer Peter Milligan provides has too much inner monologue. This is especially true with how much he is telling the reader versus allowing artist ACO and inker David Lorenzo to show. Not to mention this causes some trouble for letterer Sal Cipriano. But this is not the only problem with the script. There is also a lack of clarity regarding how this narrative’s world works; the focus is too narrow and doesn’t allow understanding of the plot and premise. Lastly, American Ronin #1 (2020) established rules to this narrative and Milligan immediately breaks one of them in this issue.

ACO and David Lorenzo do amazing work on the interiors. The inks are a little heavy, but they greatly accentuate the overall design work. Also, the color palette by colorist Dean White assists in creating an almost cinematic animation type quality. That said, the visuals feel at times like they are telling a slightly different — and possibly better — story. Arguably, this is due to how Milligan seems to be wanting to write this as a prose novel versus a graphic narrative. This also causes the placement of the lettering to take up too much space on the page. Yet, Cipriano does a good job at attempting to enhance the characterization.

The regular cover by ACO is more experimental than standard in its design. While the variant cover by artist Rahzzah is more standard than experimental in its design. One can easily argue that both covers are of decent quality. Nevertheless, the use of primary colors will probably draw more buyers to the variant cover. As for the logo, it looks fine on both, but the overuse of pink on the regular cover seems to make it a little garish. In conclusion this issue has some good qualities, but its overall quality level is a step down from issue one.