Tangle and Whisper Miniseries Review – Issue Two

Yesterday, we took a look at the first issue of Tangle and Whisper, discussed my personal reservations on the story, summed up the plot, and looked at the art and the writing behind the comic book. Today we will continue and look at Tangle and Whisper Issue Two. I will be reviewing every issue of the miniseries everyday this week, and at the end of the week I will do a full review of the series as a whole. Anyway, moving on.

Issue Two

Issue Two opens up with Tangle and Whisper sneaking around outside of an abandoned Eggman Empire bunker. Tangle is discussing with Whisper the plan of attack, and the plan of attack can be summed up as “be careful because Mimic invited us here and we’d be insane to waltz into the bunker blind”. Whisper can’t scan inside the bunker, but does know the outside is clear.

Among the discussion, Tangle observes that Whisper acts like she knows Mimic, which Whisper confirms but doesn’t say much about it given it’s a “touchy subject” to quote Tangle. Whisper does say that Mimic is a dangerous and manipulative person and to always be on guard.

The perspective briefly swaps to Mimic, who’s clearly eating Whisper’s discomfort at the situation up. Mentioning that she “should’ve learned her lesson” and how happy he is that she brought Tangle with her. He touches a bit during his monologue on Whisper’s past as a member of an old gang that, presumably, Mimic was a part of as well. In order to give him the advantage, he shifts to mimic Jewel, Tangle’s friend from Spiral Hill.

Back to Tangle and Whisper, they finally breach the bunker, but no one is around. Tangle hops up top warehouse shelving, much fo Whisper’s annoyance. While Tangle is trying to figure out the relationship between Mimic and Whisper, she hears “Jewel” cry out for help. Whisper believes Mimic might’ve kidnapped her after they left Spiral Hill, but believe she’s being kept in a safe. When Tangle opens the safe to look inside, Mimic (who was posing as Whisper) kicks her inside and closes her in the safe.

Mimic, now posing as Tangle, approaches Whisper and convinces her heart actually Tangle. Fake Tangle leads Whisper into an old Eggman Robot, and Whisper engages the bot. However, Whisper wises up time Mimic’s game and corners him on it, questioning him on where Tangle is. Mimic shifts into multiple unnamed characters as he monologues about Whisper’s past, which can be assumed is the event that led her to leave the gang previously mentioned. Mimic sold the gang out on a job, but before Whisper can handle the situation, she’s reminded Tangle is quickly running out of air.

Mimic escapes and Whisper goes and rescues Tangle. Mimic, however, rigged the bunker to explode and Whisper and Tangle are forced to ride out the blast in the safe Tangle was locked in. They survive, but Whisper tells Tangle to go home. Tangle begs Whisper to let her stay and help and “prove she’s not a failure”, but Whisper can’t stand the possibility of losing another friend. Tangle convinces Whisper to tell her what happened, but that’s for next issue, because the issue ends with a cliff-hanger teasing the secrets of Whisper’s past.

I mentioned last review I had some reservations and I had struggled to make it through Issue One of this miniseries. The second issue I didn’t struggle at all to read through and enjoy. The writing did a good job at peaking my interest in Whisper’s past, and building suspense at what Mimic was going to do once the duo got into the bunker. Definitely was an improvement on the first issue. I am glad I was able to make it through reading the first issue and I didn’t give up on something that I had a disinterest in, which is something I normally do. Typically if I’m reading something I’ll give it a certain amount of pages to grasp my attention or not, with books it’s 100-150ish pages depending on the length of the novel, with comic books it’s usually 5-7 pages. Overall, a well written issue with a good amount of action and drama. I enjoyed it.

The art style shifted to much darker coloring due to the fact it takes place at night, but also possibly to help tell the darker tone of the story of the comic. The art does a very good job at conveying character’s emotions. Whisper frequently cringes in emotional pain and it’s conveyed incredibly well, well enough to make me feel bad for her. Tangle also looks scared in the safe, which for a happy go lucky character, can be hard to do. Facial expressions are some of the most difficult part of character art to do, because eyes are hard to capture and do well. This is an aspect I’ve struggled with in my own art is giving my characters life and emotion through their eyes. I find myself in this issue, and in many other if the IDW Sonic comic books, wondering more about the art process and what the artists were thinking when they drew a specific scene. Overall, this was a well drawn out comic book as well as a well written book. Not that I expect anything less from the IDW team, they probably could write and draw out their grocery list and I’d read it.

Tomorrow we move on to Issue Three’s review in our holiday week review.

This post was originally written by the author for TSSZ News.