Rook: Exodus #2 Review!

Rook: Exodus #2 raises the stakes for the Warden Rook and his survival on the world of Exodus!  Re:cap - Rook: Exodus #1; Working on his rocket to escape the doomed world Exodus, an accidentental explosion throws Rook down! He thinks back to his boyhood on the farm on Earth. His father refuses to leave fifteen years later, the house and fields are on fire with his father missing! The man takes the offer of the Better World corporation and goes to the port in Chicago. The man who becomes the Rook leaves the Earth behind and arriving on Exodus hears the promises of Better World. As a Warder, Better World assigns a species based on their profile. He contacts a crow to land on his gloved hand and it caws. Rook drives over to see Swine, but he is missing. 

His vehicle is breached and boar, is this Pumba?, has its sides skinned! Swine is running with his herd of warthogs commanding them to run in the forest. Massive bears appear and tear apart a few of the pigs. Swine fires back with his rifle. He is crushed by a massive paw! Then, he is told he has a broken spine and his head is crushed by a fist like a wrestler. A splash page shows the burly Warder, Ursaw, standing next to his bears as ook calls for Swine! Rook: Exodus #2 has a cover by Jason Fabok, also artist for the interior pages!, of Rook and the female Warder, Dire Wolf, standing in the sunset of Exodus. They are standing with a wolf padding forward with glowing eyes, another is in the back also with yellow eyes! 

The comic continues by writer Geoff Johns and Fabok! A series of horizontal panels shows the smoking remains of the battle with Ursaw. We see the boots of Dire Wolf and a wolf paw while we hear the commercial for Better World. She sees the body of Swine and then activates her Warder helmet. I like the closeup of the wolf, Freya, and her eyes glowing like suns. Freya is the Norse goddess of love and battle. Then, we get a splash page of Dire Wolf at night in her black armor with wolves, screams out for a poster! She is searching for Rook. Morning, Rook is at a lake, he worries about his friend. Rook hopes Swine will reconnect with the Wildlife Grid. Until then, he has found a part he will need for his ship beneath the lake. He has a handheld device that pings in closeup.

 

His fishing boat is overshadowed by a looming form underneath it. A giant snapping turtle rises up with the boat and Rook in its jaws! It snaps the boat and Rook leaps down to the lake. He says a few of his birds were also taken by the beast! Rook swims down to find the rocket part and thinks about the Instinct Influence that makes Warders start to think like the animals they control. He unhooks a pack, turns, and then pulls the pack from the kaiju turtle as it lashes downwards. Rook makes a swim to the lakefront, the turtle follows, and Rook activates a button on his glove. His armored vehicle flies bashing the kaiju with a killing blow! The crows fly down to feed on it as Rook takes off his helmet and walks away. It is sunset when completes his rocket at New Mason, his fortress city home. 

At the Leaning Tower of Pizza, Rook is asleep with bottles around him to drown the crow calls. His stool is kicked out from under him. He rights himself about to pull out his gun. Dire Wolf announces herself and Rook’s narration says she trained the Warders. She removes her helmet, of course she is beautiful, a scar across her right eye. Rook also has a scar to his eye and across the bridge of his nose, possibly from the crows. Dire Wolf asks about his helmet. He asks about her hope to rally the Warders, but she says cooly that Swine is dead! Dire Wolf sees his rocket built with parts from Swine and he hoped to escape with him. He offers Donnica to leave with him that night. She thinks Better World will return to fix the Earth Engine. Rook has given up on the company. Dire Wolf wants to stay and fight for the world. 

An explosion breaches the fortress! Dire Wolf says, “He’s here.” Rook wonders who it is and we see a large panel, Ursaw in a massive ATV with his giant bears, two of thm have cybernetics! He has all of the brutality and build of a Mad Max villian! Dire Wolf activates her Warder helmet and takes out her rifle. She doesn’t want the animals killed and sends out a tranqulizer dart that drops one of the bears. Ursaw is attacked by the crows, but makes the announcement fo Dire Wolf to join him. They take cover by a concrete barrier and while Rook thinks they are alive because of the ship, Dire Wolf wants them to leave. Ursaw’s cannon fires! In a two page splash, the rocket falls with the giant bears at the base of the destruction. Rook’s dream is gone, he is forced to stay and fight for Exodus! The threat of Ursaw is revealed in Rook: Exodus #2 and his secret is a danger to all of the Warders and Exodus! 

Five Warder Helmets out of Five! 

#RookExodus, #GeoffJohns, #JasonFabok, #Swine, #DireWolf, #Freya, #Ursaw