Last year, North Air Entertainment made its comic book publishing debut with the series, Shake the Lake.  Diving deep into the sport of wakeboarding, the series focused on a series of college-aged friends who ate, slept, and partied with one thing on their minds:  wakeboarding.  As part of the three-issues series, writers Zach Block and Machi Block have returned for the second issue, continuing the devil-may-care ways of the crew as they go head to head against rival crews and plan for the wakeboarding event of the summer.

As with the first issue, the story of Shake the Lake is clearly targeted towards a teenage audience, following the care-free lifestyles of the main characters as their worlds revolve around dating, partying, and wakeboarding for the summer.  The conflict of the issue arises from the introduction of two park rangers who have a deep-seated antipathy for troublesome teenagers, as well a rival group of wakeboarders which results in a territorial battle for the waters of the town.  With struggles against tyrannical authority figures and competition for athletic superiority, we do not go too deeply into the development of the characters or their motivations, leaving it somewhat challenging to become invested in their conflicts.  In addition, more so than in the first issue, the storyline seemed rather derogatory to women, often depicting them as highly sexualized both in artistic design and in the dialogue by which they were addressed by the leading male characters in the series.  These depictions may not succeed in attracting a large female readership of the series; however, even if the target audience is skewed largely towards male readers, it would be advisable to consider the perspective of a larger market.

Diego Lopez Mata and Andrea Lopez Mata return to carry the artistic duties of the series, maintaining the same bold color palette from the first issue.  Within the issue, the artistic duo also includes samples of their character studies, providing a glimpse into their creative process.

Shake the Lake #2 from North Air Entertainment is currently available through the official website digitally and in print.  With only one issue remaining in the series, it will be interesting to note the development of the characters as they continue their search for the perfect summer experience.