REVIEW: You’ve Gotta Learn The Hard Way in BOLERO #2

In a story where the protagonist gets to go through multiple hoops – different lives and versions of themselves, in order to run away from heartbreak. It is ironically, inevitable to just face more heartbreak – just in different times and places. This is something that we see in BOLERO #2 where Devyn learns the hard way as she travels through different doors, living through different versions of herself and finding her love Natasha – only to be separated in some way or another.

My favorite line of the book goes: How can you fail a test you already have the answers to? Devyn asks. In a story where you find yourself seeing what its like to live different versions of yourself and have the same outcome, it is an inevitable that you would get hurt, or in this case, just keep on hurting yourself. And this is what Devyn goes through in the second chapter for ‘Bolero’. It’s a hard lesson, she must learn but learn it she must.

There is a lot of sex. Different kinds of sex. At this point, not sure what the relevance is story wise. At least in the first chapter, the sex scene played a part in the story. Let’s see if their many sexual exploits will come in handy in the next books – or maybe its just a way for Devyn to drown her own sorrows? By looking for quick and diverse “distractions” – if that is the case, then it is really sad. Just shows how much self loathing and self destruction she has for herself.

The issue is beautifully illustrated. Even the extra pages are so well done, they can be posted on your walls. And you can see that artist Luana Vecchio had fun with the backgrounds and getting to illustrate the characters in different time periods and genres. You can also see where she draws inspiration from like Miyazaki and anime like ‘Neon Genesis Evangelion’ and ‘Perfect Blue’. It was nice to see her have fun as an artist.

There’s a part in the book, where I guess the main objective of those sequence of events was for Devyn to get back to Capgras, who gives her a much needed pep talk. Writer Wyatt Kennedy just puts out layers of heaviness through Devyn that can convey any reader on how frustrating and distraught Devyn gets at each attempt and when she meets the mystical feline. Will Devyn finally be able to just ‘build a home’ it may not be the one she had in mind but will she allow herself to actually be happy without Natasha? I guess we’ll have to wait for the next issue to find out.