Dela Cruz is a master of generating atmosphere and building interesting characters. I'm not often as sold on his plot construction, which is extremely loose and disjointed at times, but I can't deny that I'm fascinated by the various teases in this first issue of Kissing Chaos: Nonstop Beauty. A rabble rouser, a quiet and friendly independent thinker, a rich girl with punkish tastes and a tech-friendly girl with a connection to the previous series make up the main cast, and each of them has a distinctive and intriguing personality. And just as the previous Kissing Chaos was defined by the dreamlike, delusional narration of Angela, so too is Nonstop Beauty defined by the smart and sarcastic narration of Ashley.
Give Dela Cruz credit for not talking down to his audience. With only time captions to notate the differences, the story jumps around in time from morning to night and back again, telling the story in a distinctly non-linear style. In addition, while he gives us reasonably comprehensive character introductions using Ashley's narration and a couple flashbacks, exactly what is going on in this first issue isn't at all clear. There's some kind of plan going into effect, it happens at a club and it involves weapons, a video camera and lights out, but there are many more questions than answers. While leaving those questions unanswered could prove frustrating as the series goes on, in this first issue it largely served to pique my interest.
What really got my interest, though, is the cast of characters that Dela Cruz has crafted for this book. The streetwise kids of Nonstop Beauty remind me of the kind of thing you might get in a Brian Wood book, with a revolutionary bent to each of them and punk attitudes to match. I was particularly taken with Eric, who has a sense of humor and intelligence but who isn't so upfront and arrogant about himself as Jersey. Although if I had to name a favorite so far, it would be Ashley, the same sort of smart and cynical girl that Raevyn personified in the first Kissing Chaos, with just a tad less attitude. Her daily routine, consisting of take-out, IMing and blogging, managed to capture a fairly bland existence without making it boring for the reader, and I think that's largely because of the interesting voice that Dela Cruz has given the character.
As with the first Kissing Chaos, the artwork stands out as unusual and beautiful. Dela Cruz's work has a sketchy, rough quality to it that I quite like. There are extra lines, reminiscent of the "animated" style that Herobear and the Kid uses, but with stronger graytones and shading to give it a more gritty look. There's also a shift in style a little for this series, since we're no longer viewing the world through the hazy viewpoint of Angela, to a much more clear and defined look, which I liked a lot.
I wasn't as blown away by the finale of the previous Kissing Chaos as others were, and so I wasn't really looking forward to the "sequel" of sorts all that much. However, it's clear that Dela Cruz's already impressive skills have grown, and a slight shift in focus on this series has once again nabbed my attention.
