The Legend of Luther Strode #2

written by Justin Jordan
art by Tradd Moore
colors by Felipe Sobreiro

It's been five years since the events of The Strange Talent of Luther Strode, and Petra Dobrev has changed.  Well, she's more liberally pierced with some enviable arm tattoos, but to have believed that she would willingly kill Luther as punishment for his actions seemed foolish.  I'm delighted that my suspicions about her are vindicated so early.  Her reunion with Luther is, like his re-introduction in the previous issue, spectacularly subtle.  Doing workouts in his grubby apartment—he's likely squatting—that would shame Luke Skywalker, the gradual close-up on Luther's slight, upside-down smirk as he realizes Petra's just outside is a pleasant surprise.  Petra's breaking-and-entering skills are as epic as one could have hoped, full of combat boots, Taco Bell calorie-guilt, very little grace, and cosmetics.  Her startled response, when he sneaks up behind her and astutely inquires, "Come to kill me?":  "Fucking Fuckmonkeys!"  Her advice:  "Put a bell around your neck for Christsake" (The Legend of Luther Strode #2: 4).  Petra, I've missed you.

Unfortunately, their conversation is cut short by another of Hill's assaults by mercenary thugs, these considerably more professional than his last.  What follows is another of Jordan and Moore's long, cinematic action sequences.  This one has two subplots:  Petra's attempts to escape the melee and Binder's attempts to tranquilize a preoccupied Strode from a building opposite the street.  To Binder's surprise, Strode proves astoundingly able to maintain his awareness and focus in the midst of even a fully armed attack.  To Petra's chagrin, after successfully head-butting and disarming one of the mercenaries who had her cornered, she finds herself again with a gun to her back.  This time, Binder.

With Petra as a hostage, Binder is able to negotiate a tête-à-tête with Strode.  Binder's precise agenda remains entirely opaque, especially since having been hired by Hill to kill Strode, his use of tranquilizers and his proposal to "end this peacefully," even "relatively speaking," would seem to confuse his given task.  But after Strode blinds him by slashing the old man's eyes with his fingers, at least part of the truth is revealed:  Binder, like Strode and the librarian from The Strange Talent of Luther Strode, is able to control his body by his will and mind.  He regrows his eyes and meets Strode's punch full-on.

This issue has, if possible, more action panels than the previous.  They serve some remarkable narrative purposes, and characters—particularly Petra—benefit considerably from their ebbs and flows, but Tradd Moore's art style makes some panels considerably more appealing than others.  Those that exploit streaking colors and blurred backgrounds to convey speed are invariably less visually interesting than more "static" images.  Luther Strode's body, when still and unmoved but poised to attack, seethes with potential energy, like a rubber band being tightly stretched.  The explosive implications of these moments are far more kinetic than those in which he streaks around the frames.