DIRTBAG RAPTURE #2
Writer: Christopher Sebela
Artist: Kendall Goode, Gab Contreras
Publisher: Oni Press
Release Date: November 3, 2021
Cover Price: $3.99
Things are getting bizarre in Kat's world (even more bizarre than her normal day-to-day experiences seeing and speaking to ghosts). Wherever Kat turns, angels and demons are popping up, making demands and trying to sway Kat to join one side or the other. It's all starting to take a toll that even Kat has to acknowledge as her mindscape goes up in ghostly flames. So naturally, Kat's solution is to avoid responsibility and dodge having to deal with any of it by totally checking out and finding distractions-the fun kind. Turns out the road to the apocalypse is paved with downers!
Score:
★★★★☆ (4/5)
'Dirtbag Rapture' #1 was a delightful surprise and one of my favorite debuts of the year. It introduced us to Kat Garcia, a disaffected young woman with a strange talent for transporting the dearly departed to the resting place of their choosing. The grumpy foul-mouthed pothead has a charm all her own, she's funny and confident whose "gift" is more of a burden. She treats these ghosts who literally live in her head like annoying tenants in a construct of an apartment building within her mindscape. She just wants some peace and quiet sometimes from the ghosts she encounters on the street so drugs offer some relief. It's a complicated existence that by the end of the issue becomes even more so.
Kat is supposedly caught in the middle of a war between angels and demons. Demons want to take over the world, as her latest ghost passenger, Hannah claims. It's a rather convoluted plot that is made slightly easier to understand with a whiteboard presentation by Hannah as Kat was looking for more clarity. Still, something doesn't feel right because the cop possessed by a demon (that might sound redundant) gives a totally different version of what's happening. But again, he's a demon so he may not be a reliable source.
This is a dense issue. A lot to take in. We meet her only friends, a quirky trio including a necromancer, a multidimensional traveler, and a bigfoot hunter. It's her non-judgy support system that feels the right crew for someone like Kat. There's a long montage explaining the evolution of her power stemming from her near-death experience. As wild as the idea of being a paranormal Uber for the death may be, there's also a sense of pathos for Kat who is constantly bombarded with requests from ghosts and just wants some relief, and drugs provide that.
Ultimately, Kat's time is running out. She has to choose sides in this war. The decision may be made for her. And that's the more complicated aspect of the series. Kat's relationships with the ghosts and her friends are more interesting than this impending conflict between angels and demons. It's a tug of war and Kat is frankly, just not interested. I'm not sure how interested the reader will be but this is just the second issue and with a lot of the setup and background given, issue three may be where the battle of good and evil really takes flight.
'Dirtbag Rapture' is evolving, Kat's predicament caught between angels and demons gets serious all while dealing with ghosts who just want to get home. Hannah continues to be relentless in getting to Paris, demon cops and aggressive angels want to force Kat to decide which side she's on. It's all a little convoluted but Kat is still the star of this series and worth reading it for her alone.
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