The comedic, Lovecraftian, buddy-cop series, Vinegar Teeth, continues into its second issue as Buckle and Vinegar Teeth continue about their police business in Brick City. The momentum at the end of issue one, with a super-powered cultist fleeing via the roof tops, is placed on hold in this issue with the focus shifting to more character development and lifestyle depictions. Buckle is shown to have a soft spot for a song called “Share that Nice Daydream.”  He initially relaxes to an LP of it in the bath until Vinegar Teeth accidentally blows up his apartment playing a tuba, and then moves to a bar to see a live performance of it. While on duty, Buckle and Vinegar Teeth are called to a bank robbery in progress being committed by a chapter of the Woodland Scouts (a Boy Scout parody). The scouts are able to get away by blowing up the bank with kerosene and firecrackers, but not before Vinegar Teeth saves Buckle.

The main plot point elements depicted in issue one are handled more discretely in this issue; it’s not completely stalled, but the momentum has definitely slowed down a bit. It appears that since Vinegar Teeth’s arrival, it can be inferred that the city’s water supply is being contaminated with alien cells (shown in the bar scene with the singer drinking water) while Buckle overtly states the city has been in a perpetual state of cloudiness (and ergo, perpetual night) since Vinegar Teeth’s arrival. These are nice elements eluded to, but it will be even nicer to see major developments happen in subsequent issues.

While the humur in issue one was consistent and funny, there are a few instances of jokes that fall flat in issue two. Vinegar Teeth makes a d–k joke at Buckle (“Hey! You have a tentacle, too!”) which seems more like an instance to have such a joke rather than to convey Vinegar Teeth’s naivety. The visual gags, extreme facial expressions and body language, and silly onomatopoeia that make up the carnivalesque humur in issue one are still present and enjoyable in issue two. The exaggerated expressions carried by the denizens of Brick City and the general presentation of the artwork and coloring continue to be a highlight in the series.

Creative Team: Damon Gentry (writer), Troy Nixey (writer, art, lettering, cover art), Guy Major (colorist, cover art), Michelle Madsen (colorist)
Publisher: Dark Horse Originals (imprint of Dark Horse Comics)
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Nicholas Diak is a pop culture scholar of industrial and synthwave music, Italian genre films, peplum films, and H. P. Lovecraft studies. He contributes essays to various anthologies, journals, and pop culture websites. He is the editor of the anthology, The New Peplum: Essays on Sword and Sandal Films and Television Programs Since the 1990s. He can be found at nickdiak.com.