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Rat God #2
Released by: Dark Horse Comics
Released on: March 4th, 2105.
Written And Illustrated by: Richard Corben
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Picking up where the first issue left off, the second issue of Richard Corben's Rat God finds Clark wandering through the snowy woods alone, injured from the attack that closed off the first issue. As he tries to take shelter from the cold which hunched under a tree, we flashback to his days at Arkham. Here we see he and Kito getting to know one another and enjoying life together. Through this sequence, we flashback again to Kito's home town of Lame Dog, which she describes as 'a collection of dilapidated, dried-out, rotting shacks.' It was once an Indian settlement but the arrival of prospectors changed all of that. When the boom years of the gold rush came to an end, the town fell on hard times but a few of the settlers stuck around and mingled with the Indians.
One of these men was Zedon Peck, and he'd soon come to lead the tribe after which Lame Dog became a home not to Indians or prospectors but a 'mongrel hybrid that shunned any further outside contact.' After their lunch Kito goes to run errands. Clark follows her and finds that she's allowing herself to be used as an example in a class on evolution at the local university. She spies him and when he leaves, chases after him, still naked. Clark, upset and offended by her actions, leaves her. He later regrets his actions and heads to her house to apologize, learning the hard way that it's in a bad part of town. He gets assaulted and the flashback ends. He wakes up in the care of Achak, the care previously stolen from him stored safely outside the trailer. After a quick meal, Clark takes the car to Lame Dog, or what's left of it. He takes lodging in a big old house but when he asks about Kito, he's told to be gone by dark and to steer clear of the cemetery…
Corben's mix of Lovecraftian ideals and Native American folklore continues its horrific journey into darkness. There's some great character development here and no shortage of suspense throughout the last half of the issue, particularly once we meet the twisted, inbred inhabitants of Kiko's hometown. Corben has a knack for dealing in twisted material like this and here he really shines not just in the artwork (which is up to his consistently high standards) but in the storytelling as well. Of course, his illustrative style complimented here by some fantastic coloring (with assists from Beth Corben Reed), suits the content perfectly. That tendency of his to over-exaggerate facial features somehow feels perfectly natural here. His trademark style manages to be both amusingly cartoonish (reflecting the sense of black humor that runs throughout the comic) and frighteningly ugly at the same time.
The first two issues of this five part story showcase Richard Corben at the top of his game. Here's hoping the next three issues of the run can keep up the quality level demonstrated so far.
