Richard Gratton's Fantastic Reads 4 U
Legends of Oz: Tik-Tok and the Kalidah #2
Publisher: Aspen Comics
Release Date: 06/01/16
Tik-Tok is a world of Oz robot and Kali is a Grizzly bear with a tiger's head. While being hunted down by flying demon-like monkeys (?), this unlikely pair are frantically bringing an as yet unnamed girl to the city to hand her over for apparent execution. Aspen comics generally have a lot going for them, especially art, and Legends of Oz: Tik-Tok and the Kalidah #2 is no exception. The art in this issue is solid, dynamic, and inviting – it draws us in to a world we may be familiar from the L. Frank Baum classics, and yet is unique to the Aspen world of storytelling. The story, though interesting and captivating, falls a little bit short, simply because writer Keith Thomas fails to capitalize on some great storytelling opportunities; he has really cool characters, but fails to make use of them.
Renato Rei does a solid job of creating a visually appealing world for us to be drawn into. First and foremost, the cover to this comic is eye-catching and striking: the kalidah's fierce, teeth-baring snarl jumps out at us as he races down a path in the woods with Tik-Tok desperately clinging to his back. The blue, winged demon-monkeys look both cool and menacing at the same time. The battle sequences between Kali and his former pack has a realistic feel to it, thankfully, Rei uses facial scars to help us distinguish between kalidahs.
The story definitely leaves us wanting more in both positive and negative ways. For anyone new to the Legend of Oz, or who may not have read the first installment of this 3 issue series, there is no summary of the story thus far on the opening credits page of this book. Who is the girl in the story? Why is she being brought to the city to be killed? This is a piece of the plot that is nearly ignored, but then again perhaps Thomas is stringing us along for something more revealing in the final issue?
Why is the trio of Tik-Tok, Kali, and the unnamed girl pursued by flying demon-monkeys? What do the demon-monkeys want? Both the flying demon-monkeys and the kalidahs are key players in this issue and yet, neither can speak. Roughly ten pages of this issue are devoted to a battle between Kali and one of his former pack, who we can infer has a facial scar possibly from a previous battle between the two. At the very least, we could use some sort of narration or commentary from a character capable of speech or from the writer himself. There are a few comments made by Tik-Tok and the unnamed girl throughout these ten pages, but not enough to understand what the true nature of the kalidah battle is other than what we can see. And if the flying demon-monkeys are pursuing the trio, why do they fight off the kalidahs long enough for the trio to escape instead of directly attacking the three they are after?
Having said all this, Legends of Oz: Tik-Tok and the Kalidah #2 is not a fantastic read, but it is not a bad read either. If it were, we wouldn't want to know the answers to the questions posed above, because we wouldn't care. We would feel like we were wasting our time and money. This comic is definitely worth reading, it just needs fleshing out to a point where we can dig deeper into all the characters; their motivations, their desires and their fears. Hopefully, Keith Thomas can answer the questions we have before the series comes to an end.
Scale of Awesomeness: 4 out of 10
