The Life and Death of Toyo Harada #2 Review

By Wudood Omran

The second issue in this series starts by going back in time so you can see a young Toyo learning his real powers. And throughout this issue, this scene of a young Toyo on his ship in the middle of a storm is a lesson they continuously revisit. Toyo insists that they sail through the storm, instead of pulling into a nearby dock to wait the storm out. His reasoning is that time is the only thing we cannot fight, and that the elements are a much less challenging opponent. This memory continues to show young Toyo being washed overboard, and sinking quickly into the dark depths of the ocean. Until he finally digs deep into his inner self and literally flies out of the water. As he emerges from the sea, he is so impressed with his own sheer power that he flies high above the clouds with joy. Toyo has completely forgotten about his mortal crew below the billowing clouds, and they are the ones who pay with their lives. I love this parallel that Joshua Dysart, the author, draws with Toyo’s own battle in the present day. As he seeks to gain even more power and knowledge, who will be the victims left in his wake?

The dialogue between Angela and Toyo in the previous edition is looked back with this issue. We see that Angela, who is a greater supernatural force merely controlling a human vessel as its puppet, is demanding pregnant human specimens to conduct her research with. She believes she is entitled to these demands due to all the knowledge she has shared with a mere human such as Toyo, and that without her extraterrestrial knowledge none of his kingdom would be a reality. Toyo sees her plans as a little barbaric, so he tries to delay her requests. Angela has become impatient though, and as we saw in the last issue, she is ready to do all she can to get what she would like. So she shares Toyo’s intel with the anti-Toyo forces. He only sleeps every 30 days for 24 hours straight in a private vault. She gives them the specs for the vault as well as the schedule that he would follow because this is when the God that walks would be most vulnerable and their best shot at defeating him. Toyo senses that the little loyalty Angela showed was quickly dwindling, if not already vacant, so he moves his sleep period up to see how Angela would react and what she would reveal with this news. Just as Toyo expects, she was infuriated due to her plan to kill the only obstacle in her way seemingly becoming foiled.

Will she find another way to take out this immortal man? May 15th we will see when the new issue comes out, and until then pick up your copy of “The Life and Death of Toyo Harada #2” today. And check out my review of the previous issue for a quick catch up of this evolving series. I loved the direction Joshua Dysart is taking with this series and can’t wait to see what’s in store next. And as always Cafu and Butch Guice knock the artwork right out of the park. It’s always a treat when the art is as enticing as the storyline. I highly recommend this issue, as well as the complete series.

Rating: 9.5 out of 10