Damage #2 Review

Still Learning to Play Well with Others

Storytellers: Tony S. Daniel, Robert Venditti
Art Team: Tony S. Daniel, Danny Miki, Tomeu Morey
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: February 21, 2018


Of the New Age of DC Heroes books I've read so far, which is all of them that have released at this point, Damage still remains #1 in my heart, with its combination of story and art, in issue one, resulting in some high-quality entertainment for the price. So let's peep in on issue two now, and see what our boy Ethan/Damage is up to now, after escaping military control, leaving him on the run from none other than the Suicide Squad.



The issue begins with a brief flashback scene, Damage's first real mission to be exact, with Col. Jonas launching Ethan out of a submarine, and into active duty, as he's transforming in the process. Damage lands and begins wrecking shop in the area, suddenly Ethan wakes up from his long slumber to present day, in a homeless shelter of sorts and attempts to get his bearings.

We spend a majority of the issue from here catching up with Ethan a bit (whose been asleep 21 hours we find out) as he goes about his rather mundane day. He watches the 'Damage Event' be covered on the news, meets up with Darryl who runs the shelter, and also foolishly attempt to call and check in on his parents.  There's all a little more to the idea of these events as they take place than just the way I make it sound, but after a lot of mystery in issue one, I was looking for a little more background info on the character himself, rather than random events taking place of varying importance, so I was a little let down by this meandering section.

The big take away from all that is Ethan's call home alerted everyone to his whereabouts, through some drone spying and triangulating, so the Suicide Squad moves into the area.  Deadshot is the first to approach Ethan, who's minding his own business, so with a gun to his head, and Parasite on his back he lets Damage's out, leading to this issues melee, which is where the fun comes back to roost.

Damage's throw down with the Squad is the obvious highlight of the issue and looks absolutely incredible. It takes the Damage monster all but four minutes to tear through Waller's hired guns, which gives you a good idea of how powerful he is, and there are some interesting developments with Ethan aware Damage can hear him, just as Ethan can hear Damage when not in Damage form.  This all leads to our cliffhanger, where another DC stalwart comes charging out of the shadows, to take down our title hero, and it looks 'Wonder'-full and gets me on board for next issue again.

Overall Damage #2 is a good comic book, although it was a step-down story wise from issue one for me, with a middle chunk of the issue seemingly filling time, when there are answers to still be had.  The art is some of my favorite in the entire DC lineup of books right now and really sucks you into the story making it more engaging if you ask me.  So while issue two was a bit of a mixed bag, I still enjoy what I am getting with his new character, and am eager for more. If you're a fan of action titles I would recommend this wholeheartedly.

Bits and Pieces:

Damage #2 is a little bit of a mixed bag story wise this month, failing to deliver yet on a few of the questions raised in issue one about this new character, and meandering a bit in the middle of the book.  However, the art is certainly a huge draw and adds to the story being told in a way I'm on board with right now.  I just hope for some more character development next month.

7/10