'Strangers in Paradise XXV' #2 Is a Gorgeous Trip to A Familiar Place

Fans who have heard for years about the genius of Terry Moore's Strangers in Paradise might not have found the first issue of his revival, Strangers in Paradise XXV, particularly easy to follow.

The issue kicked into full gear right away, and the result was a story that was more entertaining for longtime readers of Moore's work (which also includes Echo, Rachel Rising, and Motor Girl) than for newcomers.

You can put those concerns aside with this week's Strangers in Paradise XXV #2, though: the issue is a giant exposition dump, with Katina Choovanski (Katchoo) narrating blocks of text to the readers.

The maneuver is a bit inelegant, but it works well and produces a surprisingly readable and entertaining comic, in part because few creators are more in tune with the voice of a given character than Moore and Katchoo, who first appeared 25 years ago and has been the gold standard for the acclaimed writer/artist's work ever since.

Moore has, throughout the long life of Strangers in Paradise, frequently used prose sections alongside the comics. Here, he takes it to a natural next step of integrating what feels like a chapter of his not-yet-written book into pages of traditional comic book art -- some very elaborate, and all riffing on a nine-panel grid.

Moore's use of the grid has historically been effective, although he often strays from it. He has admitted in the past that his comic book tastes and his path to loving the medium are non-traditional, although certainly Watchmen is among his influences, as evidenced in the original Strangers in Paradise, where at one point Katchoo drank from a bloody smiley face coffee mug.

Here, the art has a clarity of line that makes the straightforwardness of a grid feel particularly appropriate. He manages to offset the regimented, static feel of the grid in part by setting the issue in Manson, the town in which Rachel Rising took place. The small town is full of odd angles, strange sights, and snow.

Snowfall permeates the issue, appearing on nearly every page and giving the comic a sense of constant motion.

This issue would be the one to hand someone who wanted to know "what is Terry Moore's work all about?" It features characters and concepts from Rachel Rising, references to the events of Echo, and a simple-yet-detailed breakdown of the key points of Strangers in Paradise's narrative.

Something that's both impressive and sad is how Moore manages to briefly describe the original Strangers in Paradise accurately, and yet without mentioning David Qin, who starred in the original alongside Katchoo and her now-wife Francine Peters.

Moore successfully avoids the whole issue feeling like a boring data dump with gorgeous art, effective use of visual storytelling, and by injecting sex appeal and humor into sequences that otherwise do not "need" it in the strictest sense of the word.

This issue would have felt strange and strained as the first issue back in years -- not to mention the fact that entering the series and meeting up with Rachel and Jet before Francine would have been a strange decision -- but it is an interesting beast: combining this with #1, it would become greater than the sum of its parts. The first two issues of the new Strangers in Paradise elevate the narrative in a way that neither of them alone can do. Each of the first two issues never quite reach the heights of the original Strangers in Paradise, which is one of the greatest accomplishments in the history of American comics. Together, though, they feel like home.

A home, by the way, which has some very interesting company over. Moore effectively weaves the characters of his other series in and out of the main Strangers narrative in a way that is fun but not intrusive. With a little luck, he will continue to exercise this kind of restraint, allowing the "Terryverse" to expand and its characters to interact, while leaving Katchoo and Francine to define the direction of Strangers in Paradise itself.

Strangers in Paradise XXV #2

Written, drawn, and lettered by Terry Moore

Rating: 4/5