Crave #2 - Comic Review

 

The first issue of Crave set up an interesting premise, an app that would lead you to the thing you wanted most in the world if you followed its specific instructions step by step. Who created Crave, how does it know the things it knows, and what ulterior motive does it have were all questions that were seeded in the first issue but left mostly untouched. This issue does little to move these mysteries forward, instead taking some time to show the destructive nature of the app, and how people getting what they want isn't necessarily a good thing.

This issue takes place over a relatively short period of time, Albert is still stuck in the lift with Sofia so the events of this issue don't seem to happen over more than an hour at most. The main focus of the issue is David, who finds himself walking through the campus, seeing various people openly hooking up in the corridors, some even having sex out in the open, as Crave begins to get people what they want. 

David finds himself in the library for a study session with Alexandria, where they're the only two there. Everyone else has left in order to go and look at some kind of accident that one of the teaching staff has been in, which begs the question of if Crave caused that accident to get these two alone. After some back and forth flirting the two of them start having sex on the library table, before David runs out of the room, unable to go through with things. Meanwhile, his former girlfriend asks Crave where he is, and it shows her CCTV footage of him almost having sex with Alexandria, and Alexandria masturbating when he leaves, footage that she leaks to the rest of the campus.

And that's about all that happens in the issue. There's a lot of sex with a lot of different people going on, and this issue more than earns its mature rating, and it moves some of the character relationships around a little; but it felt very short in comparison to the first issue thanks to it mainly being pages of people in various states of undress and sexual acts.

The sinister nature of the Crave app is further highlighted in this issue, with the hint that it may have hurt someone, a background character mentioning bad things happening when they didn't follow the instructions exactly, and it being able to access security cameras and sending it to people. It furthers the air of menace and the feelings of bad things coming on the horizon, but I was surprised by how much of the story took a back seat this issue, considering the limited number of issues given over to the story. But, if you came to this series for sex and titillation then this issue certainly delivers on that, managing to be adult and graphic whilst not being too lewd.

As with the first issue, Maria Llovet does everything, from the writing to the art, colours, and lettering. The art on the book is really good, and Llovet has a style that lends itself well to the type of story that she's telling here. A lot of the issue deals with sex and nudity, and most of it happens in the background of panels, mostly covered, in a way that makes it clear what's happening without showing anything graphic. However, when David and Alexandria finally come together that's when the book becomes more open in what it shows. Llovet chooses how much to show and when to match the pace of the story, knowing that it's better to hold some stuff back until David's story reaches a climactic moment (no pun intended), using more graphic material then to heighten the emotions in the scene. 

Whilst I enjoyed the first issue of Crave for the mystery that it established, the focus on the more sexual aspects of this issue left me feeling a little less excited. Whilst I'm still really looking forward to diving into the answers to the questions that I have, this issue didn't really address many of them. I'm hoping that the next issue shifts to cover more of the main story, and finds a nice balance between the plot and the sex scenes so that one isn't given priority over another. Whatever comes next though, I'm definitely still on board to see this series through.

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