Fine Print vol. 2

Vol. 1 of this series definitely had the feel of “This Is The Story I Had To Tell You Before I Could Tell You This One,” with its closing moments implying that things were finally going to get started here.  With regular human Lauren Thomas  having entered into a Golden Contract to have her boundless desire sated by the god of such, a title that is currently contested by succubus Leila Ashen and incubus Thadeus Brimstone.  Which means that Lauren gets to have the both of them competing for her affections even as the seed of desire that’s growing within her threatens to warp her very mind.  Oh, and it’s not like Leila and Thadeus aren’t bringing their own kinds of baggage into this relationship, which itself has attracted the attention of some very big players in the divine sphere.

You’d think that having an incubus and a succubus vie for the affections of a human would make for some fun fantasy-based romantic comedy from Stjepan Sejic, creator of “Sunstone.”  That’s not untrue as Thadeus and Leila are enjoyable in their roles, and Lauren herself is a great dumpster fire of a character whose many bad decisions are entertaining to see play out on the page.  The problem is that Sejic has decided that he wants to throw every possible subplot he can into the mix in addition to the main set-up here.  There’s Bauphette Alaris, mother to Merryl – who gave Lauren her Golden Contract – and her efforts to try and sort out what her daughter has done, with none other than Lucifer himself.  We’ve also got Leila’s ongoing relationship with a Cupid which is complicated by her current job, Lauren’s ongoing struggles with her real life issues, and the fact that Lucifer’s son Cale Morningstar may have more of a role to play here than initially thought.

There is A LOT going on in this second volume and it all has the feeling that Sejic is scaling things up too fast, too soon here.  To the point where there’s so much to process here that none of the storylines being presented here really feel like they’re making much progress.  I can’t deny that it all looks great under the artist’s pencil, but as badass as scenes like the double-page spread of Bauphette losing her shit are, I’d have rather seen more time devoted to the romantic hijinks between Lauren, Leila and Thadeus.  It’s not enough to make vol. 2 of “Fine Print” feel like a bad comic, just one that’s not living up to its potential right now.