Sons of Anarchy Redwood Original #2 Review

Sons of Anarchy Redwood Original #2

Publisher: BOOM! Studios
Writer: Ollie Masters
Artist: Luca Pizzari
Cover Artists: Chris Brunner and Rico Renzi
Colorist: Adam Metcalfe
Letterer: Ed Dukeshire

Review by Anelise Farris

Sons of Anarchy Redwood Original #1 introduced us to eighteen-year-old Jax Teller, a young man processing the recent loss in his life (his father’s death; his girlfriend Tara moving away) and seeking to establish his role within SAMCRO.

In Sons of Anarchy Redwood Original #2, the club is dealing with drugs. First, there is a shipment of drugs Clay and the boys need to get out of Charming as soon as possible. Second, SAMCRO’s favorite cop Uncer (Wayne) asks Clay to help figure out who is selling bad ecstasy around town. And, third, Jax convinces Opie to ditch school to smoke weed. As Sons of Anarchy Redwood Original #2 ends, the mission to get the drugs out of Charming is fraught with new dangers and uncertainties. Obviously drugs permeate the various interesting plot strands in this issue; however, what is really impressive about this comic is the level of characterization both the writing and the art achieve.

Clay, the fearless leader of SAMCRO, appears vulnerable and anxious about what dangers he might have potentially gotten the club involved in. Then there’s Jax, who is all about impressing Clay; he is confident to the point of being naively cocky. Due to this, Jax boasts to an outsider about club business, and he is forced to make a serious decision as a result. With this prequel series, it is apparent how volatile and immature young Jax Teller is, and I’m excited to see how he will mature along the way. Sons of Anarchy Redwood Original #2 also presents us with more insight into Opie’s backstory: his uncertainty about club life and the way his dad (“Piney”) really wants him to get an education and stay out of SAMCRO.

More than just a great plot and faithful characterizations, the art in Sons of Anarchy Redwood Original #2, like #1, is fantastic: the way that evening is depicted in a surrealist manner—full of blues and greens and purples—is compelling, and the variety of panel arrangements affords the comic a certain complexity. The skilled use of shadowing in issue #1 is also present here, particularly in the chiaroscuro of Tig’s facial features.

The Verdict:
Buy It! Sons of Anarchy Redwood Original #2 has the emotional intensity that #1 gave us, and the art and writing continue to impress. As a series, Sons of Anarchy Redwood Original manages to effectively balance interesting storylines with careful characterizations, and I am eagerly looking forward to the rest of the series!

Sons of Anarchy Redwood Original #2 releases September 14, 2016