PLAINER JANE #2, from Broken Face Comics on December 9th, 2021, follows Jane as she’s pressured to start thinking about career choices. Thankfully, she already has a career in mind, and she’s about to accept her first big assignment.
The Details
- Written By: David Wilburn
- Art By: Wayne Lowden
- Colors By: Robert Last
- Letters By: Tim West, Fiona Oakley
- Cover Art By: Ralf Singh
- Cover Price: $3.99
- Release Date: December 9, 2021
Was It Good?
Why do killers make for fascinating content? Unexpected killers, in particular, are the stuff of unique drama and quiet fantasy. That’s a fancy way of saying there’s an intangible cool factor surrounding “hidden” killers that captures your imagination.
Perhaps, it’s the taboo-like pleasure of tasting forbidden fruit that comes with witnessing somewhere shake off the restraint of social acceptability to pursue their passion. Maybe we just get a kick out of watching people do bad things and get away with it. Who knows? What we do know, however, is that PLAINER JANE #2 is a fascinating read about the plainest of plain high school girls who embarks on her chosen career to become a contract killer.
When last we left Jane in issue #1, she completed her entry-level contract to dispose of a contentious dog. Now, we catch up with Jane as the pressure to make a career choice mounts while she pursues taking her “true calling” to the next level.
The plot is solid, but it does have a sticking point. Wilburn does an excellent job of laying out Jane’s normal life as mundanely as possible to create a shockingly stark contrast to her hidden job hunt. The down point is the length of time spent living a humdrum life. The idle chit-chat about nothing that matters takes up a hefty section of the first half of the issue, and it starts to drag the pacing and interest down. Jane’s banter with her mate in school about boys and nursing school and parents sets the stage, but it could have been whittled down by several pages.
When Jane gets her next assignment, the story picks up and turns into the true highlight of this issue. We see how Jane stumbles her way through planning her first human kill, learning and adapting as she goes. The issue works because you perversely want to see this young lady do good and succeed while recognizing you shouldn’t. The story creates a conflict of emotions in the reader primarily because Wilburn has created such a likable main character, even though her actions are evil.
Loden’s art has a light, airy charm to seel you on Jane’s wholesomeness, elevating the mixed emotions you might feel. She looks, sounds, and acts like the quintessential every-girl, and the art solidifies that image with nondescript costumes, passively pleasant facial expressions, and a relaxed, easy attitude in every moment, even while killing. This comic is diabolical in the best way.
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What’s It About?
[SPOILERS AHEAD – Click here if you just want the score without spoilers]
We first met Jane way back in 2021. Find out about our first impressions in our PLAINER JANE #1 review.
We catch up with Kat and jane in math class. They hate every second of it, and they continually whisper about Kat’s ongoing drama with her boyfriend. The teacher is not pleased with the constant interruption.
Later, Jane waits for a new contract to come in as she ponders how she could have improved over her first assignment. She succeeded in killing a troublesome dog, but mistakes were made, and she diligently dissects her performance to look for improvements. After an insufferable wait, jane receives a contract to kill a human. Her first.
Jane discovers that finding the right time, place, and method to kill a human is not as easy as it sounds, but she’s up to the task. We conclude the issue with surveillance, trial and error, and a profound statement about the abundance of atoms in the universe.
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Final Thoughts
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PLAINER JANE #2 takes a character that’s pure evil and somehow manages to make her likable. The front half drags with a little too much slice-of-life content, but the back end more than makes up for the lack of energy. The constant push-pull of conflicting emotions makes this issue truly memorable.
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