Book Review: Teen Wolf issue #2

Book: Teen Wolf issue #2 by David Tischman with illustration by Stephen Mooney, color by Adam Chong and letters by Ed Dukeshire

Cover by Joe Corroney

Edition: Digital

Description:

Scott is on the run as he tries to deal with life as a full-time Werewolf. His Mom, school, Allison, the team--the excuses are piling up and everyone wants to know what's wrong. Adding to the drama, Scott's arch-rival Jackson is using Scott's disappearance to try and poison Allison against him. It's up to Stiles to discover the truth: a bio-engineered virus is causing Scott's condition. But who's behind the attack? And is there an antidote? Derek Hale may have the answer.



Rating: 3 1/2 stars

Review:

This second issue opens with Stiles Stilinski and Allison Argent in English class when they hear a loud roar. It came from Scott McCall who was in the hallway attacking Jackson Whittemore but it ended with Allison shooting an arrow into Scott's chest leaving him bleeding and dying on the school floor.

However, this turned out to be Stiles' dream, which I should have realized once Lydia who was hiding behind Stiles asked if he was working out. Stiles had fallen asleep in the Animal Clinic where he and Scott were hiding out. Apparently, Scott was still stuck in his werewolf transformation and the two had went there to see if they could figure out why.

The duo may have found the possible cause of Scott's condition but in order to find out the truth, Scott will have to go to the one person he doesn't want to for answers, Derek Hale. If Scott really wanted to know if Derek knew what was going on, I don't think a surprise attack was the best way to handle the situation.

I guess Scott was still mad at Derek for what happened in the first issue with Scott and Stiles getting trapped by hunters. In a way it was Derek's fault but he was trying to teach Scott an invaluable lesson about hunters.

Scott is desperate for help especially since in his condition, he can't go home which means his mother is worried about him, he can't go to school (his excuse is that he's sick) and he can't spend any time with his girlfriend Allison. She believes he's sick but she's also starting to think that he's simply avoiding her. Allison's worrying is starting to pique her father Chris' interest especially in regards to Scott being sick.

Even though Scott is supposed to be at home sick, he showed up for his school's lacrosse game. On the sidelines, Allison (in drab clothes and stringy lifeless hair) was talking to Lydia Martin (in equally drab clothes and boring hair) about Lydia's upcoming birthday party as she waited for Scott to show up.

While Scott was on the field playing in the game, he suddenly became sick and went back to the locker room. Stiles was concerned about his friend and followed him back to the locker room but he was in for a big surprise because it wasn't Scott.

So where was Scott? He was secretly tagging along with Kate Argent (a hunter and Allison's aunt) and a friend on their way to the movies. I believe Kate's friend was Allison because the person who is with her has long brown hair but the story doesn't say who she is. However, I doubt Allie would call her dad by his first name (which was misspelled by the way). Anyway, Scott was hiding under the car waiting for his chance to search Kate's car for the antidote to whatever is causing him to stay transformed. As soon as Kate and her friend/Allison left, he searched the car and found what he was looking for. Too bad for him, he got caught by Kate and she's not the type of person who shows any sympathy to anyone and especially not to werewolves. The only good thing about this ordeal is that Scott's back is facing Kate and that so far she doesn't know who he is.

This second issue was a much better read compared to the first one and that was due to the writing improving and the story flowing better as well as the third person narrator (which wasn't annoying this time) was kept to a minimum. However, the artwork continues to be extremely average and at times even worse. I don't think the description really goes with this issue because nearly everything that's described doesn't happen. Whoever wrote the description certainly did not read the actual comic. I feel like there is a scene missing between Scott and Derek with Derek somehow confirming that the hunters specifically the Argents have created some kind of toxin that causes werewolves to stay transformed because otherwise why is Scott searching for an antidote in Kate's car.

I feel like Lydia and Derek continue to have the worse depictions in this miniseries from their dialogue, personalities and actions being out of character (with the exclusion of dream Lydia). Also, Lydia continues to be shown with blonde hair instead of red along with her terribly drawn clothes. I always feel like comic book artists could benefit from studying fashion and hair so that they know how to draw more detailed and fashionable clothes and hairstyles because Allison and Lydia always had great hair and wore really cute clothes and not these boring outfits and bland hair the artist draws them in. The last panel Lydia appeared in was the only time her hair actually looked good. Also Derek's werewolf eyes were the wrong color, they should have been blue instead of being shown as gold.

Despite the few problems I had with this issue, this turned out to be a good read especially since the first one was so blah. I'm hoping the improved writing continues in the third and final issue of this miniseries because I'm interested in seeing how this story will end.