PK2 #1 - Ducklair

I'm not quite sure what happened... but it was awesome. Ducklair getting a major role is fantastic, I've always thought him an intriguing character. Especially since he appears to have some rather complicated motives and goals. I also look forward to finding out what the heck was the deal with deleting One. I'll be sad if he really was deleted, instead of simply deactivated... :/

Now then, sleepiness is finally winning, I guess I'll leave the remaining six issues for tomorrow. Gonna be a great day, no matter what else happens.

...Or s I thought. But you know how it is, you get hooked and you just can't stop. Several hours later (I read slowly and savouring every page) I'm done with the first 7 issues.

I'm not sure how much I like the new series compared to the old one. It's still awesome, in a way I really enjoy the new, somewhat more somber tone. Donald has become even more reliable, not just as a superhero, but as a person. With fewer allies and a more varied selection of problems that keep him occupied day and night, he's still managing. Gives him a much more mature disposition - and, in a way, makes him even more badass. And the story, there's much more focus and continuity than before, which I believe will ultimately turn out to be a strength.

On the other hand, I kinda miss the old lighter tone. Sure, there were dark times earlier, too, but somehow the atmosphere was more carefree. The adventures were more entertaining, full of action and plenty of different settings, from outer space to different dimensions. Of course I also miss One, Xadhoom, The Raider and the other discarded characters. And the occasional moments of depth and impeccable style... of course, the second series has depth as well, but I feel like something is missing from the style. There has yet to be a single issue with stylish storytelling close to the level of masterpieces like Fragments of Autumn or The Ulysses Syndrome. Well, only 7 issues translated so far...

One more thing I'm not sure I like: there's new maturity to the portrayal of relationships, they're no longer nearly as simple as before, there's a whole new level of complexity and drama. It's the drama part I'm not sure if I like. The brewing love triangle, while based on misunderstandings, gives me a a bad taste in my mouth. Still, I also enjoy the new complexity and maturity. Everett, for example, is like a completely different person from the first series one, and I far prefer this colder, harder, and yet in a way more human version, and his strained relationship with Avenger. I'm also looking forward to learning more about his daughters (and their mother). I'm loving the attention Juniper is giving to our masked hero, and how much Everett hates it. I so want to see them go on a date at some point, and the doting parent going berserk about it. XD

Well, in conclusion, I feel like I'm reading a different story, but not necessarily any worse one. I have yet to decide on that. Ultimately it might depend on whether the new "harem" will be as interesting as the old one, from which only Lyla remains.

Perhaps this is the wrong area for an analysis encompassing several issue, but whatever...

Just as I was done with #8 and the special.

Overall, I've pretty much given my opinions on the series over at the blog, so I don't feel like repeating anything.

I'll just say that this series certainly isn't a step down from the previous one. Lovin' it!

As for the deep stories... I've read #13, look forward to that one, pretty much PK2's equivalent of "Trauma".

... so anyone else stopping by the forum like to discuss sh*t? No? no one?

Ducklair for me wasn't an issue.

It was the issue.

I had started middle school three months before, and on a cold day of December, not feeling too well, I asked to my grandfather to take me home.

While outside was beginning to snow, I asked him to go and, please, buy the new PK, which I had been waiting for weeks now, afraid that something was going to go really really bad in the world I came to love so much.

Spoiler:

I went to my grandparents home, and started to avidly read the issue, with my eyes becoming wider and wider and the cold in my heart growing more and more. I closed the issue and put it on the table, as freeze started to bit me in my chest. I now knew that something changed, and the world that I was so obsessed with (I had started to slowly recover issue after issue... but not being still ebay time and money being what it was, it had been a slow process - in fact, I read the last number of PKNA I had to find, Stella Cadente (#17, Shooting Star), in 2007) had somehow disappeared.

I felt betrayed, and started to feel a sort of grudge against PK2, which had robbed me of [spoiler][/the characters I loved the most: Xadhoom, and even more so, Uno.spoiler]; grudge that took form, a year later of the decision to not buy issues #13 and #14 (and thus losing two of the most beautiful stories ever published in all the series - me and my genius mind).

In time, obviously, things have changed. I can now savour Sciarrone's art, and appreciate the incredibly though work of taking 54 issues of PKNA, destroying them, and rebuilding something on those ruins that was truly incredible.
Only in time, I understood the value of that issue, that's really one of the best (i think only Il Peso dei Ricordi - The Weight of Memories, #11, and Gradi di Separazione - Separation Grades, #9 are better in the Ducklair Arc), and the wonderful work behind.

Now, I can love that issue. But for me, it's still the issue that changed my approach to PK, and is still the issue

Spoiler:

It's the sum and the symbol of what I now think of PK2: an incomplete masterpiece.

That is one of my favorite issues. I love it and I don't care if Uno dies or not, I LOVE Uno and I LOVE Ducklair and I LOVE the script and I LOVE the drawings. I love this entire issue!!
One of my favorite thing in the whole PK is PK/Uno friendship, so, you know...
I so loved the new PK, but most of the pkers didn't and everyone knows the rest of the story...