3 out of 5

Ryan Browne is only gonna carry me so far, which is actually a way of saying “I’ll likely keep buying this because of Browne but maybe not enjoying it.”

Curse Words volume two rounds the corner on what I was unfortunately expecting: a regular, humdrum script.  Back when Strange Attractors came out, I already had an ingrained bias against Soule due to that book’s, I felt, hipster-baiting plot.  Other projects, like 27, didn’t change that feeling.  But his name continued to crop up as a recommendation from trusted sources, and Letter 44 sounded mighty fascinating.  Alas, I did a couple Soule checks, and his writing just isn’t for me.  Nothing notably wrong, it just doesn’t do anything for me.  So I was iffy on a Soule / Browne collabo – Mr. B having earned my love and affection with God Hates Astronauts and Blast Furnace – but there was enough of Ryan’s style infiltrating the book via the visuals to make it work, and Soule seemed to be unleasshing some inner goofiness to sync with Ryan’s outlandish style, so it was satisfying.  And in the meantime, Ryan wrote, but did not art, a Hero Killers mini, which I really enjoyed, so that somehow-backwards-logic gave me hope for Curse Words: that these guys maybe have their own shticks completely separately and combine into a satisfying, ongoing shtick as well.

But arc two, early on, shows me some limitations.  Because I’m edged into not caring, as the story clicks into generic machinations.  We get to see some more of the Hole World, with Siazajee hosting a tournament to see who’ll battle Wizord next, and Ruby Stitch gets some Earth adjustment tips from Margaret, who’s taken on a new form.  Wizzy hisself is busy fostering tenuous ceasefires with the government, and Soule unsubtly slips in a big, impending warning sign about how Wizord procures his powers.  All of it’s interesting enough, and the characterization remains consistent – yuks-tinged soapy drama with a dash of emotion creeping in to ground it – but there’s the sense that without Browne’s design work, the big, resounding Why? of all of this would be more flagrant.  The whole tournament sequence in particular feels forced, and Sizajee is becoming more of a Mumm-ra fist-shaking villain than a real threat.  Like, he’s powerful, no denying it, he just seems rather hollow, i.e. just another bad guy.  And in a tale with talking koalas and magic beards, “just another” anything is a little weird.

As prefaced, I’m here: Browne has a hold on me.  But the magic has maybe worn off, exposing the regular-ol’ story sleight of hand.