About a year after we got the first Straw-Man book, we get the second from Barry Reese. This series is set in modern times within Reese’s Sovereign City universe, in a small town known as Grove’s Folly that is near Sovereign City. However, other than a reference to one of Lazarus Gray‘s associates, none of Reese’s prior characters appear here.
Again we get six linked short stories involving The Straw-Man. Not quite a hero, but not quite a villain, he is a new supernatural entity in this universe. The first book explained how he came about. As he is more of a help than otherwise, the local sheriff starts to call upon his help. Further, some of the world’s superheroes start working with him as well, if reluctantly. His on-going main foe is a witch named Rhiannon. She may or may not be a U.S. senator today.
The first story in The Straw-Man, Book 2, from Pro Se Press, has the sheriff encounter a strange trio of girls near the home of an elderly lady. But there is more to them than it seems. And it involved an old forbidden book. A new foe appears, Ladybird.
The second story is set in 1885. Here The Straw-Man teams up with an interesting woman named Julia Holst in confronting a bizarre foe in a mine out west: a strange robot named Mr. Timothy who needs human blood to stay “alive.” I would like to see more stories with Julia.
Our next story has The Straw-Man teaming up reluctantly with the superhero Jupiter. That’s him on the cover. They are working to stop a sinister serial killer calling himself the Blood Artist. As he has supernatural abilities, he gives both our heroes a run for their money.
Both Heaven and Hell hate The Straw-Man and in the next story take another run at him. This time sending both a Redeemer and a Grave Master. Will he triumph against these two as well? Sadly, they think the wrong person is actually The Straw-Man.
In the next story, we are re-introduced to another of the world’s superheroes: Thrud, the daughter of Thor and Sif, who first appeared in Lazarus Gray, vol. 9, and introduced to Hush. I wonder who trained him to cloud men’s minds? The international superheroes have figured out that Rhiannon is a menace. And the storyline with Ladybird comes somewhat to a conclusion. I wonder if she’ll be back?
In the last story, we get a big battle between Rhiannon and The Straw-Man. Things are wrapped up with the four international superheroes arrive. Among the outcomes, they recognize The Straw-Man as a somewhat ally of theirs. It will be interesting to see how that progresses, as well as what is next with Rhiannon and her fight with The Straw-Man.
Overall, this is a good one, though the level of violence and sex is higher than most of Reese’s prior works. So be advised.
We did get the universe timeline in the back of this volume. However, they really need to do some formatting on this to make it easier to read. Some use of bold type and such would have helped.
If you enjoyed his other series, check this one out. From the timeline we should expect to see two more Straw-Man volumes, however I think Reese plans on working on other things first, so maybe we’ll see some of the planned six volumes in the Dark Society series or Omnium Gatherum. I have no idea what or when.
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