I have to start this review with a disclaimer; I consider the writer of Sugar Glider, Daniel Clifford to be a good friend of mine. I occasionally offer him some bad advice and lackluster support, which is why he felt it necessary to give me a mention in the special thanks section at the front of the second issue of Sugar Glider. This will in no way affect the way I write my review, you can try to bribe me with your 'special thanks' Clifford but we both know this book is all you and artist Gary Bainbridge and I'll judge it as so ;-)

Sugar Glider #2 starts with our hero, Susie Sullivan, still reeling from her first foray into super-heroics, battered and bruised with her family now aware of and condemning her desire to become Newcastle's finest vigilante. On the delicately, well designed cover there is a pull quote that top's the page "The Empire Strikes Back of Comics has arrived", this comment is so acutely accurate, with issue one things ended on such a downer with everything falling down around our heroine. So, does this mean this next installment should be 'Return of the Jedi'? I can't even decide whether that would be a good thing or not?

Follow up:

Thankfully, I don't have to decide, as this installment of Sugar Glider continues in the same fashion as the first, ambitiously building a small press superhero community while telling the tale of a normal teenage girl just trying to make something of her life. Of course, in between issues there has been the popular spin-off, Sugar Glider Stories, telling the tales of other heroes in this new universe. This second issue of the main series builds upon the success of the aforementioned anthology series by re-introducing the Vigilance agents, adding an element of foreboding to Susie's tale and further expanding the level of depth to the story.

As well as the Vigilance agents, we also have the two detectives trailing Sugar Glider's movements, a new vigilante on the scene, Don Quixote and Susie's inevitable return to a life of tights and capes. All of these threads are deftly handled by Clifford, often intertwined but each allowed it's own time to shine, very reminiscent of silver age compressed storytelling. There are a couple of mis-steps, where the changing of location/circumstance could've been played out a little better but these are minor quibbles that become less apparent upon subsequent readings.

I can't really talk about one of the story elements that impressed me most as it would be considered a huge spoiler and I've already given too much away, let's just say that it continues with a social consciousness that shows real heart and makes it stand apart from the crowd. This book is about real people with real problems and just like in real life the solutions are not always perfect and can sometimes leave a bad taste in your mouth. Sugar Glider does not shy away from revealing the often depressing and unfair truth behind the world we live in and if nothing else, it should be commended for that.

Bainbridge's art continues to keep the same level of quality laid down in the first issue, it's clean and in a more naive style than this Marvel zombie is used to. There are a couple of improvements however, especially when it comes to the action scenes. The one criticism I had of issue #1 was that the action seemed a little confused, not so this time around as the action is masterfully handled with frenetic and clear fight scenes, even when broken down into punch-by-punch thumbnails, an effect I particularly enjoyed.

This second installment of Sugar Glider has impressed me and left me wanting more, it takes the elements you love from mainstream superhero comics, shrinks them down and inserts them into a small press book that has fire in it's belly and wears it's heart on it's sleeve. 4/5