Violent Flowers #2 // Review
Anna is being fed upon when Carnelia pops-in to let her know they’re going to a party. As fun as the feeding might be for all involved, there’s work to be done in Violent Flowers #2. Writer/artist Maria Llovet continues her tale of vampiric politics in an elegant era still touched by brutality, jealousy and vengeance. There is a delicate inch to it all, which seems to be moving in several different directions at once. Lovett's script is a bit too eager to deliver backstory to feel particularly concerned with what’s happening on the page visually, but it definitely makes an impression.
The party is in Barcelona. It’s a city that hosts some of the largest supernatural festivals in all of Europe. Carnelia and Anna are there to attend a party that’s being hosted by sea creatures known only as “Tge Triplets.” They’ve there to find information leading to Erzsebet. As it turns out, she’s at the party. And she’s upset. Naturally things are going to get a bit aggressive. Anna might find herself at the hands of Carnelia’s rival. It’s going to be a delicate dance, if things are going to turn out in everyone’s favor. Death might have to occur if things don’t get-off on the right foot.
Llovet’s script is very heavy on the overall sense of drama. There’s a lot of backstory that’s delivered. Politics are at the center of everything. The script isn’t written in particularly poetic fashion. It’s all delivered quite coherently, though. And certainly the background as being delivered, provides context for the conflict, which is to happen at the party. however, if an issue is going to be focused so heavily on exposition, it really needs to be delivered in a way that feels a little bit more elegant. These are people who have been around for a very long time. They were fine, very intricate ways of expressing things that don’t necessarily make it to the page.
The visual end of Llovet’s work feels confident enough. Drama between characters into the page in some very intriguing ways with the right kind of way out. Occasional close-ups add to the intensity. The problem is that the setting doesn’t feel as intense as it could. A party hosted by sea monsters would have all kinds of opportunities for visual decadence around the edges of everything. Llovet isn’t bringing into anything to the page that he was particularly impressive in that respect.
There is still quite a bit of opportunity for everything to develop in a way that could be truly interesting. As it is, however,Llovet isn’t doing enough with the concept to relieve register as much of anything outside of a relatively uninspired Anne Rice-inspired drama. Llovet’s style of visual rendering does continue to hold quite a bit of appeal that continues to keep the pages moving even if there’s nothing on them that seems to be as engaging as it could be. There’s a real potential here. And there’s every hope that.Llovet can live-up to that potential.
