By Jarred A. Luján — To sort of echo what Zack said in his review for Sera and the Royal Stars #1, Sera and the Royal Stars #2 continues to be a wholly unique fantasy comic. Notably, the Royal Stars themselves have some of the best character designs I’ve seen in a while, providing something that is so different than we’ve seen in other recent fantasy comics. I’m particularly fond of how colorful and diverse The Bull’s design is, but that’s sort of a testament to the book in and of itself. While elves and orcs and the like are plenty fun, Sera’s strength lies in that it brings you into a different, colorful world. I’m just really thrilled about how it’s gone so far.

Sera has the characters to back that striking visual world up, too. The Bull is super funny, but carries himself as a wise character at the same time. I felt like this was The Bull’s issue for the most part, which was kind of nice considering we left off at his introduction at the end of issue #1.

While The (Old) Bull kind of takes the center stage of the issue, Sera herself remains a character readers can love through and through. She’s tough, she’s a little brash, but, most importantly, she loves her family. This mission she’s on is confusing, it’s terrifying, yet she remains committed, no matter how strange or daunting the task appears. This issue also features a pretty serious death for Sera, one that puts her into an incredibly difficult position, and the writing here does such a wonderful job of capturing that conflict. To be honest, I almost feel like that revelation about the death was paced too quickly, but the character reactions were brilliant and there was no shortage of emotion on the page.

Ultimately, the only real concern I have about this series is how many threads are being laid out. To say it simply, there is a lot going on. Sera’s continued search for the remaining Royal Stars, the conflict over the throne at home, the mystery of her mother…Sera has no shortage of problems at hand by just the second issue. To be fair, though, that stack of problems hasn’t bogged down the pacing of Sera so far, and Sera’s fiery resilience as a character makes me look forward to how she is going to tackle such a daunting mound of conflict. 

Overall: Sera and the Royal Stars #2 sets up a lot for our heroine going forward. With a continued streak of unique, beautiful artwork and a protagonist you can’t help but root for, this chapter will have you excited for what’s next. 8.5/10

Sera and the Royal Stars #2
Writer: Jon Tsuei
Artist: Audrey Mok
Colorist: Raul Angulo
Letterer: Jim Campbell
Publisher: Vault Comics
Price: $3.99

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Jarred A. Luján makes comics, studies existential philosophy, and listens to hip-hop too loudly. For bad jokes and dog pictures, you can follow him on Twitter.