In my previous review of Decoy, I complained that I really didn't have any background on who the characters were, and I couldn't get a sense of what the story was all about. This issue I have a whole lot more sense of what's going on, as well as a sense of the characters, and as a result I liked the issue a lot better. I'm still not really sure about the tone of the book, which seems overly serious for such a goofy concept, but Scalera clearly has some interesting ideas about Decoy's culture, and this issue features a lot of exploration of the characters as well as an intriguing central plot. In addition, the artwork, a common thread across all of Penny-Farthing's releases this week, is fantastic.
Decoy has been a fascinating image to me since I first saw the promo, due in no small part to the sense of Decoy standing out from the "reality" characters thanks to Garcia's colors. That same image is given a weird and shocking twist on the first page of this issue, as the seemingly innocent Decoy is strangling his human friend. Throughout the issue, Decoy has that same glow that keeps him aside from the story, giving him an alien appearance as well as conveying, in strong terms, what his current attitude, be it malevolent or innocent, is.
The notion of a cute little animal that can become dangerous is a fairly universal story, usually told with feral animals that have been tamed, and it's interesting to see Scalera apply it to an alien creature. There's some fairly elaborate work done this issue on Decoy's culture and on the equally interesting (and deceptively monstrous) Kranch. In addition, the more human side of the story, exploring the strained relationship between Luck and his partner and the choice she makes as a result, gives the story some interesting tension. I must confess, given Scalera's previous work, that I expected more comedy from the work, and I do think the story would be made stronger with a little more humor and a lighter touch at times.
Courtney Huddleston's cartoony artwork is great this issue, from the outrageous behavior of Decoy and his elongating limbs to the design of the Kranch, which look threatening at first but then less so when their motivations are revealed, a nice feat of alien design. The sort of goofy facial expressions on the faces of the humans, as well as the expressive metas (even without many facial features, just eyes) also speaks well of Huddleston's storytelling abilities.
Decoy was, for me, an exceptionally slow starter, as the issues I have read have left me let down, wishing for something that would capture the imagination promised in the initial promo art that I saw of the character. Storm of the Century #3, while not as light as I would have hoped, has captured my attention more than any other Decoy issue thus far.
