REVIEW: 'Black Tape' #2 by Dan Panosian, Dalibor Talajic, and Ive Svorcina

BLACK TAPE #2

Writer: Dan Panosian

Artist: Dalibor Talajic, Ive Svorcina

Letters: Steve Wands

Publisher: AWA

Release Date: March 8, 2023

Cover Price: $3.99

Jack King was a rock'n'roll god who projected a stage persona on par with the devil. After Jack dies on stage, his widow, Cindy, grapples with grief and struggles to protect his legacy, unaware that she is being surrounded by dark forces that covet the master tapes to Jack's final, unreleased album - a heavy metal masterpiece that just might open a doorway to hell.

Score:

★★★★☆ (4/5)

'Black Tape' by Dan Panosian, Dalibor Talajic, and Ive Svorcina is emerging as an eerie, investigative psychological drama. It has subverted my expectations of a wildly bloody satanic exploitation slasher I had formed in my head. Instead, the new series is much more restrained and nuanced as it follows the widow of a rock star who finds a secret passage, mysterious symbols, and possibly an evil plot he was involved in.

Panosian is taking his time in telling the story, establishing this world slowly, unfolding details just as Cindy does in asking questions and investigating what her husband, Jack, was doing. It's what you might consider a "slow burn" but it does a good job of revealing new tidbits, new clues to an increasingly darker truth about Jack that Panosian teases readers with. Along the way, there are sexy nightmares, creepy fortune tellers, and missing girls. There are more questions than answers so far but luckily, the nuggets of information are still enticing. However, readers may grow impatient if more isn't revealed in the next issue.

There may not be any blood or much violence in a comic that promises dark forces and a doorway to hell, but Dalibor Talajic and Ive Svorcina still provide an atmospheric experience that's kind of a neo-noir effect full of shadows and even in the daylight, a sense of dread that hangs in every panel.

'Black Tape' takes readers deeper into a mystery of dark secrets and possible murder as Cindy tries to unravel the truth behind her dead husband's dual life. Tense and compelling, Panosian takes a methodical approach to 'Black Tape' as the layers come off ready to expose a wife's darkest fears and a man's desire to open a portal to hell. Things are about to get even stranger.

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