BONE PARISH, VOLUME TWO by Cullen Bunn, writer and Jonas Scharf, artist. (Boom Studios, September 2019) Trade paperback, 112 pages. ISBN # 1684154251 / 9781684154258.
Summary on the Goodreads website . . . . .
War breaks out in New Orleans as multiple crime families fight over a new designer drug made from the ashes of the dead.
“The Ash” is the hottest new drug in the Big Easy, and there’s only one way to get it: the Winters, an upstart crime family that pioneered the drug made from the ashes of the dead. But with multiple other factions moving in on their territory with deadly results, just how long can Grace Winters and her children hold on to the lucrative trade?
Eisner Award-nominated author Cullen Bunn (Harrow County, The Empty Man) and illustrator Jonas Scharf (Mighty Morphin Power Rangers) continue their critically-acclaimed blend of horror and crime in Bone Parish Volume Two, as the Winters family discovers the true depths they’ll go to protect the fragile business they’ve built.
My Five-Star review on the Goodreads website . . . . .
The brutality and gruesomeness of Volume One now seem a bit tame compared to what occurs in Volume Two, the second act of Bone Parish. It's a devilishly clever set-up for what is sure to be a climatic showdown in the final Volume Three. The shadowy figure in a Baron Samedi-like hat and deaths-head face paint from Volume One return to hang around in the background of several key scenes like a patient Grim Reaper.
The realistic art throughout is incredible, and the ink and color team really excel at enhancing the story-telling. Color choices shift from monochromatic schemes to vivid colors depending on the action and backgrounds. Flashbacks are done in either a single hue or black and white for maximum effect.
Following the funeral of Wade Winters, the rest of the family move on from their grief with revenge, opportunity, and business expansion on their minds. Burly Brae makes a deal with a biker gang for protection and more. The cartel preps for retaliation against the Winters.
Matriarch Grace Winters asks daughter chemist Brigette to make a new strain of ash that will work like the Andre version did, and earn them premium prices. Not just to see pieces of a dead person's past life, but to be able to interact with them- - like a ghost raised at a seance. Meanwhile the crime boss wants the Ash drug to be reverse-engineered so they can sell it cheap, drive down prices, and force the Winters to sell.
A new intriguing character in Fionna Herron, a special agent investigating the Winters and the disappearance of two detectives finds her family threatened and receives a special gift on her doorstop -- a vial of Ash derived from the exhumed body of her young son, sending her into a fit of depression as she contemplates what to do with it.
The reverse-engineered drug has some nasty side effects that are quite horrific. I won't spoil it by revealing anymore. The NYC crime gang and Mexican cartel may be meeting to join forces against the Winters just as the biker gang ambushes the cartel and Leticia (the cartel boss) decides to get what she wants by seducing Brae Winters.
Act Three is definitely going to be a killer.
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