In my review of issue 1 I said that Daomu has potential for readers who haven’t read the book if it does more to treat the reader as if they don’t know the story at all and inform them more of what is happening. Sadly, at the end of issue 2, I still have very little knowledge of what is actually happening.

Issue 2 picks up right where issue 1 left off with Sean Wu opening a mysterious coffin his father told him to burn. Sean is confronted by a horrifying sight but feels strangely at ease as his Uncle Tsai approaches. Tsai then offers Sean a glimpse into the world Sean’s father lived in, an explanation for why he was abandoned and an opportunity of a lifetime.  

One of the redeeming factors of issue 1 was the very cool art work, especially the shoot out. The character designs, perspective used and drawing of the rain gave the scene a very cool feel that helped you feel like you were there. Issue 2 provides no moment that feels remotely the same as that moment and overall the art is a bit flat. There is a lot of dialogue, again, so there’s very little opportunity to present any cool action scenes and the one bit of action at the end of the comic felt rushed and I had to look over it a few times to work out what was actually happening.   

Just like issue 1 the major problem with Daomu issue 2 is the fact that it’s an adaptation of a novel. Even though I haven’t read the book it seems like they are trying to adapt huge chunks of the story straight from the book. In both issues there’s just been page after page of constant dialogue and it’s a little overwhelming and even uninteresting for those who are new to the series. There is also very little characterization done to make us like Sean. He’s always complaining about everything and it wears thin after a while. Issue 2 also seemed to contain some lapses in dialogue where Sean’s uncle would say something and Sean’s response would be to something else or he would ask Sean if he wanted him to tell him something and then tell him something different although maybe I just dozed off a little bit during all the dialogue that seemed to go nowhere and missed a few things. 

Daomu is looking like a series that will only sell well with those who have read the novel. To any new readers the story is a bumbling mess filled with walls of dialogue that don’t make sense and are only intermittently broken up with some action. This series really needs to pull out all the stops in issue 3 to hook new readers.