FIGHT! #2 (Nobrow Serial Box) - Graphic Novel Collection for Comic Book Enthusiasts | Perfect for Reading, Collecting & Gifting

Diablo isn't a bad guy. Never mind his name, his look, his character that he wrestles with. He just wants to be a good guy for once.This story is very Wreck It Ralph-ish in Diablo's "I'm bad but that's good..." focus. He's a wrestler and the son of a wrestler. Because of his red skin, horns and ability to breath fire (which I guess means he actually is a medieval demon) is called "devil" and plays the bad guy. He's about to retire and in his final fight he faces eye ball headed twins who go to town on him. The fight starts out like a normal match but quickly it becomes clear that the twins want to kill him. The crowd sees him getting beat down and slowly turns in his favor. Emboldened by the positive cheering he fights back.After the fight, we find an injured devil who just wants to be judged by the content of his character rather than the character he plays in the ring. He seems to be a young man (since he lives with his mom) and deals with insecurities that a devil in his shoes may. If this isn't making a ton of sense or sounding like a very good story we have a lot in common.I know that Nobrow allows their artists to create whatever stories they want to. I think this sounds better in thought than practice. Editors do a great job of helping focus stories; not just holding artists back ala "the man." Art doesn't need an editor necessarily. But graphic novels really do. This one does. It's a meandering, non-sensical, rough cut story that goes almost nowhere. I didn't care about the characters and didn't get the metaphor or point of Teagle making the devil good and the bad guy [mild spoiler] look like a modern surfer Jesus, but is a drunk "good wrestler" who is really bad but no one knows it.This is my second book from Nobrow and the second time I've been very underwhelmed. I'm not a fan of the content or the execution of the stories.I'm not a big reader of comics, although I can appreciate them. But back in the 60s and 70s, I was a huge fan of the underground comic scene, and artists like Crumb, Spain, Vaughn Bodé, Gilbert Shelton, and S. Clay Wilson, who combined art and narrative in ways that we had never seen in the DC and Marvel comics we grew up reading. When I do look at comics today, I lean towards indie comics like this Persepolis that combine distinctive art with a compelling narrative rather than the big superhero franchises.This comic combines a simple artistic style with an interesting story idea: Jesus and the Devil fighting it it out in the wrestling ring. A great premise, but the story just doesn't develop in an interesting way. Its sort of like a children's book that should be kept away from children. Maybe that's the idea. Whatever the author's intent, it didn't do anything for me.There was a split in the family on Jack Teagle's "FIGHT! #2". It is part of series and in this volume, Diablo and the Eyeball Twins are set to face each in a wrestling match. The match ends and then it cuts to a few anecdotes of Diablo and a former wrestler who blames Diablo for ending his career. It isn't a very long book (maybe 20-25 pages). The art is in black and white (which I'm fine with because I read manga on the regular). That said, the pacing is jumpy and I found it hard to follow. My son, on the hand, enjoyed it and could follow it just fine. The average brought it to a 3 star.This is a nicely illustrated volume with an engaging story. It has a great matte cover, with glossy spot printing, beautiful endpapers, and a charmingly retro back cover. It pains me to give it three stars for bad language. Given the nostalgic feel, it makes no sense to include 21st-century swearing. With this off-beat graphic style, I suspected it might have some f-bombs, and sure enough, by page 11 we get the first one. Especially given the retro ambiance of the tale using euphemisms would have worked just fine. Why limit your audience?If you are a millennial and all your friends use the F-word every sentence, this won't' bother you. Otherwise give the book a pass. I hope this imprint can get its act together and make their books enjoyable for a wider audience. If they do, the imprint has great promise.As one who enjoys classic comics, especially those from the 40's and 50's. I figured this would be worth a try. Unfortunately, this isn't my type of fare. I didn't appreciate the rough language and it just didn't have that much of plot. However, I'm sure that this would have a strong teen audience, so I will rate it okay, but just that and nothing more.I assume there's a FIGHT!1 out there somewhere, but i haven't read it. Given the level of this book, i'm pretty sure i can't be missing much for that oversight.So, we've got a guy cast as the villain who doesn't want to be the villain and then gets his chance and so on. It's a pretty generic story, quickly told, with an art style that didn't really win me over. The exploration of what it means to BE good versus just playing the good guy is valuable, but can be found other places without panels devoted to the aftereffects of spending too long at a bar.For being a low-key comics affair, Fight2! is all right. The message of accepting yourself and following your dreams is an admirable one. It is just a surprisingly violent trip to that acceptance of self for wrestler Diablo. The support characters come off a bit one-note, particularly Joe who is meant as Diablo's foil. This isn't exactly kid friendly, either between the violence, gore, and occasional dropping of that word that starts with the letter 'f.' Decent, but could have been better if there had been more character development. On the plus side, the visuals do create a nice contrast in regard to the good versus evil feel of the story.Fight 2! (Nobrow Serial Box) is amazing. I really love the art style. I would recommend this book to anyone that loves independent comics as it is just an outright great example of one.