Jennifer Blood, Volume Two: Beautiful People

Jennifer Blood (collected editions) #2

by Al Ewing, Kewbar Baal (Artist), Eman Casallos (Artist)

Picking up right where Garth Ennis' epic 6-issue run left off! Jen's bloody war against the Blutes is over and it's time for the cleanup phase of the operation. All's well that ends well? In a word... no. Jen's enemies get a little too close, Jack gets a little too crazy, and it's all fun and games until someone loses an eye! How far is Jen really prepared to go to keep her revenge from wrecking her life, and what happens when the people she loves get in the way?

Collecting issues #7-12 of the ongoing series, Jennifer Blood, along with a cover gallery featuring artwork by Tim Bradstreet and Ale Garza.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Crime, Comic Book, Ebooks

152 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

Reviews

[Baba · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the comic books Jennifer Blood #7-12. The Garth Ennis created 'Huntress knock-off with a nod to Dexter' is a pretty good series, by way of its concept, its female lead and most of all its dark humour! Al Ewing picks up the series from comic book #7 and proves to be very much up to Ennis' standard! 8 out of 12. I'm pretty sure that this was the first work by Al Ewing I've ever read, and I was impressed.

2013 read

[Chad · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bit unnecessary. Al Ewing comes up with a few loose threads for Jennifer Blood to tie up but it's something of a stretch. He's trying really hard to be edgy, but it just comes off as a dumb ploy. Dynamite probably should have just stopped with volume 1. The art is very graphic and only so-so.

[Ill D · Rating 3 out of 5]

O.k.

A bit of a downgrade more than anything. More bloody entrails are laced with a story just as convoluted.

*yawn

[Rod Brown · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't much care for this series when Garth Ennis was writing it; without him it becomes just plain awful. There is nothing here beyond the joke that a housewife by day is a heavily-armed vigilante at night. The over-the-top villains and ultra-violence that are supposed to be shocking and/or amusing are just pathetic and tedious. And Jennifer Blood is just a straight-up villain herself without much charm or appeal, just fodder for the cheesecake alternative covers collected in the back of the book.

[L. McCoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alright, I was nervous about this second volume being written by a different author but still expected it to be good. This is still pretty good but not nearly as good as volume 1. Also: if you haven’t read the first volume of this series, turn back now unless you like spoilers, however any spoilers for this volume will be tagged of course.

What’s it about?
Jennifer has a bit of work to do before she can quit being Jennifer Blood and some family drama starts up.

Pros:
The story is still good with a reasonable mix of vigilante stuff and family stuff. Even though this volume focuses more on family stuff than the first one it makes sense to the story and it manages to stay interesting so I’m fine with it. I also liked the detectives thing they did.
I still care about most of the characters.
The art is really good! Awesome job!
The action is pretty sweet. The bloody action scenes are still here and still really good.
There’s some humor that is pretty great and bats*** crazy.
This is not a predictable story. There are some things I was really not expecting.
I like how it tries to be at least a little bit realistic.

Cons:
The dialogue… oh my gosh the dialogue. The dialogue is so poorly written throughout the entire book and it’s every character. It annoys the s*** out of me.
This volume tries too hard to be edgy. Edginess is something that is either great or awful in a book. Some books are extremely edgy but it makes sense and can be a bit fun and they don’t seem like it’s just there to be cool or something. Volume 1 did it perfectly. Volume 2- not so much. We get bathroom humor (which is rarely funny IMO, this book is not one of those rare occasions), a guy who drinks his ex-wife’s urine which does nothing for the story, just makes people (including myself) uncomfortable and think what the f*** am I reading . Dialogue with swearing in places that don’t make sense (I usually don’t mind swearing, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t do a fair bit of it myself outside of professional environments (like a job or a class), it’s just with great lines like “this guy couldn’t solve a… a f***ing c**ksucker” (actual line from the book sadly) it gets to just seem a bit immature). Let’s not forget the sex stuff that just kinda shows up and doesn’t really do anything for the story except for in one scene that lasted about 2 pages, other than that, it was pretty much just there.
Remember that prevy neighbor from volume 1? He’s back, now he’s a main character who’s more annoying than humorous. He wasn’t great in the first volume but provided some laughs, in this volume he does a few funny things but for the most part is just annoying as hell. It made me real glad he got killed off so I won’t have to sit through that in volume 3.

Overall:
Still a good book but… yeah, it needs some work. This does a great job with many essential factors of is this a good comic but the gratuitous edge s*** is just annoying. I’ll read the next volume though I’m certainly not expecting greatness.

4/5 (possibly a bit generous but I still enjoyed it enough to give it this rating)

[Dorin Lazăr · Rating 2 out of 5]

The assassin-housewife adventures continue - but the story loses steam fast. A few loose threads, some police involvement (luckily, the police are both corrupt and incompetent) and the neighbor becomes a problem. She appears on TV when her child discovers the weapons cache, feigning indignation about a weapon found on the lawn, and she continues the slaughter.

I can't lie, it's entertaining, but it feels obvious that the action never leads to anything. Aside from posturing and needless violence, and the slight build up (her husband starts to worry about their love life), there's little to write home about. Perhaps it's a bridge to some better content; we'll see.

[Zedsdead · Rating 3 out of 5]

We pick up right where v1 left off; the mission is over but the microscopic loose ends JB has left along the way start to add up. Jack left his tearaway leather gimp pants at the scene when she scared him off. The Ninjettes' powerful gangster parents are sniffing around. The cops have a witness in a trucker that JB ran off the road. And her young son has stumbled into her armory. Comeuppance encroaches.

Al Ewing takes over for Ennis and actually does a decent job capturing Jennifer's voice...as well as Ennis's tendency to see how much he can shock the reader.

But while this volume isn't actively bad, it feels like what it is...a publisher refusing to let a profitable title resolve organically.

Plot points:
--Jennifer Blood has just killed her last uncle and sent Jack running. Exhausted, she accidentally drives a trucker off the road. He sees her before she drives off.
--Still exhausted, she leaves the door to her hidden armory ajar. The next day her son points an AR-15 at the mailman while playing GIJoe. She forces the poor kid to tell the cops that he found it on the lawn or mommy and daddy will go to jail. He does, but starts having behavioral issues. She doesn't seem to notice.
--Jack arrives home pantsless two days later. His wife takes the baby and leaves. Jennifer cuts off his finger off for some reason.
--The Ninjettes' criminal parents and step-parents track her down and send a goon. Jack--now in thrall to JB--helps her kill the goon.
--(This sequence is where the author channels Ennis's notorious shock habits: One of the Ninjettes' parents keeps a wine cellar of his wives' pee, drinking it out of tumblers. Two other parents dress their toddlers in ninja suits and throw them at Jennifer Blood as a distraction. When a fourth parent gets the drop on her, JB holds the baby up right in front of the gun. This last bit was actually really funny.)
--Jennifer frames Jack for all of her crimes by writing a suicide note and blowing up his house. She happens to catch the cops on her trail in the blast. But one of them survives...

...neatly justifying a third volume.

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think Jennifer Blood is getting to become a bit of a cold hearted killer. The first volume was all about revenge, volume 2 is all about tidying up lose ends and it doesn't matter who she kills. I loved the ninnjettes 2, they were a masterpiece.

Again the graphics are fantastic and the detail is really gruesome.

[Timo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very funny and violent. Good art. So what's not to like?

[47Time · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jennifer is working toward cleaning up after her recent massacre. Things get considerably hairier with more parties involved in finding and killing her, but her luck carries the day where her methods are lacking. Many deaths and jokes later she is still standing and it's a joy to see. This volume is even funnier than the last one, so I'm curious to see why the third volume was so criticized by other reviewers.

Fulsom and Pruitt are investigating the Jennifer Blood murders. They have proof that a third party witnessed Jennifer Blood's last massacre. He is Jen's pervert neighbour Jack who went through a meltdown after witnessing Jen's handywork. He is now a loose end for Jen, but he proves useful when he offers to help her. She eventually kills him to cover up her tracks.

Jen's son Mark finds her armory, so Jen manipulates him into lying for her. The media backlash convinces Jen to send her family to live with her mother-in-law. This allows her ample time to deal with two of the fathers of the Ninjettes she dispatched previously.

Jennifer takes out Katasi Oshiro, a businessman who bribed Fulsom for information on her case. Unfortunately she leaves more evidence behind. Mason Buwick and Cilla are the parents of another dead Ninjette. They are killed in the second bloodbath in the volume, one that involves toddlers who, thankfully survive, in most part due to Jen's care.

It all looks nice and neat in the end, but there has to be something round the corner. Jen's story is far from finished.

[Vittorio Rainone · Rating 2 out of 5]

Continuano le avventure della punitrice a firma Ennis, ma senza Ennis, come accaduto per l'ormai mitico Crossed. Solo che lì il testimone l'ha preso Lapham, che è stato capace di andare in profondità nell'argomento, raggiungendo risultati superiori allo stesso ideatore. Qui la storia invece parte bene, si sviluppa discretamente, ma ricade nello stesso difettuccio che manifesta l'irlandese a volte: ci si parla troppo addosso, si vuole essere dissacranti a tutti i costi, si limitano le scene d'azione, dimenticandosi di prestarci la dovuta attenzione. Il risultato non è completamente fallimentare, ma poco ci manca. Disegni nella norma.

[Cal · Rating 5 out of 5]

It turns out that this series is perfect when I'm too frazzled to write more erotica. It also highlights why few books take up permanent residence in my library; they're kinda dumbed down. Some more than others of course, but I can't believe that anyone needs to be repeatedly smacked in the face with the point.

And this is part of why I clearly delineate between comic books 📚 and graphic novels. Both have humour and can be crude at times, but an intelligent adult should never feel the need to spell things out; let alone repeatedly and slo-ooo-wly. Say, you look smart enough to draw your own conclusions here.

[Terry Murphy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can't in all good conscience suggest these. Having gotten the entire series on Humble Bundle, I find myself reading through them grudgingly.

Why?

The pencils look sloppy and the artist seems disinterested in trying to capture the rote and clichéd action.

The story is so blandly executed as to be wholly unremarkable. I genuinely cannot remember most of the story beats already.

Avoid.

[Sean · Rating 2 out of 5]

Al Ewing takes over the writing chores and the book's just as crass and over the top. Jen's psychopathy is hard to enjoy. A character like Marvel's Punisher seems like the inspiration here and its an insult to him. The interior pencils are decent but weird faces hurt the overall look. This still isn't a book I can get behind.

[David Dalton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did not like this volume nearly as much as liked the first one (where I read the six individual issues). Seemed to veer off the Killer Mom aspect and the stories just got more goofy and totally out there.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

When it rains it pours

Jenn is through with revenge. All that is left is the clean up details. When did this get so messy??

[Adrian Bloxham · Rating 4 out of 5]

More mayhem and no sign of it stopping anytime soon

[Elliot · Rating 3 out of 5]

Far less grim dark than its predecessor and better for it. And less male gazey. Less... but not all gone

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

DPL hoopla

[Adrian Montanez · Rating 4 out of 5]

All I have to say about this bloody volume is that Issue #11 was a shocker, that made took this whole arc to another level.

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Al Ewing was left with the unenviable position of following Garth Ennis on an Ennis-style book. In this case, he did an admirable job of cleaning up after two of the worst parts of the original story, which involved schoolgirl ninja wannabes and a guy with breakaway pants. No, really.
More importantly, Ewing had to write about what happens AFTER the successful revenge fantasy is over. The targets are dead. Everyone who survived lives happily ever after...or do they? Too many loose ends after a rampage of violence, and too many ways for the trail to lead back to the person actually responsible, especially when she got sloppy in her rush to finish things up. This second book is the start of a downward spiral which can't end well.
I'm honestly not sure I will read book 3, because it's already fallen off a cliff in several ways, and I'm not sure I want to stick around for when things hit the ground. Still, once again the book was nicely crafted.

[Gav451 · Rating 4 out of 5]

The art is still visceral and wonderful. So many iconic images and so much care taken on the action but here the story shines as it moves from the 'fun' of the first volume to the slow unwinding of all of Jennifer's work.

I liked this volume more than the first. I liked the way things started to go wrong and the way that our 'hero' was forced to react to the situation. Things have started to go wrong and while it is still not 'realistic' it is very interesting. The secondary characters are fleshed out a little as well and not in a way that distracts you.

This was another great volume and a fun read.

[Steve Isaak · Rating 4 out of 5]

More bloody and violent hilarity, suburban public kink-wear and surreal unintended consequences ensue as Jen/nifer's vendetta against her crime-family family winds down, and the relatives and associates of those she killed seek revenge while the cops seek answers regarding her previous slaughters. Wildly entertaining stuff, this - worth owning.

Followed by Jennifer Blood: Neither Tarnished Nor Afraid .


(This review originally appeared on the Reading & Writing By Pub Light site.)

[Dev · Rating 3 out of 5]

actual rating: 2.5

Decent but I don't really think there needed to be a second volume at all and it seems like the story is just going to devolve from a pretty solid revenge story into like ~ooh what whacky way will she almost get caught by the detective trying to track her down this time~ alongside stupid callbacks to volume one [it's the ninjettes but now they're literally babies!] and I'm just honestly not interested. This volume was still fairly readable for the most part but I feel like it's probably only going to keep getting worse as it goes on so I'm dropping it here.

[arjuna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyable - I had wondered where they were going to take it after the demise of the Blutes, and it doesn't disappoint. Much less use of the "diary" format - much less intrusively - to its benefit. Increasingly complex and messy and with lots of fun at the expense of the idiot male neighbour... I look forward to seeing what happens next.

[Chris Puzak · Rating 3 out of 5]

The whole idea behind Jennifer Blood is kind of silly (what if the Punisher was a mom from the suburbs?), and I thought the whole thing would run out of gas after Garth Ennis stopped writing it, but Al Ewing has done a pretty impressive job picking up where Ennis left off. Lots of fun if you enjoy mindless violence.

[Carl Nelson · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. A more interesting story than the first volume. Series seems headed in a good direction. Entertaining, darkly humorous fun that makes good use of the suburban housewife cum assassin theme.

[Pranay · Rating 3 out of 5]

the best thing about these books are the cool cover art by artist tim bradstreet, The story is decent and keeps you hooked with quirky characters but don't get attached to any one except Jennifer coz they all eventually meet their demise.

[Kenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sick and funny. Subversive gratitious violence. I like.

[Bill Fletcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very violent, very nihilistic. Not quite as much fun as the first volume (written by Garth Ennis, so it really couldn't be, could it?), but almost worth the wait.