Oxymoron: The Loveliest Nightmare #​2​

By Tyler James, John Lees, Alex Cormack

“Mmm…that awkward moment when snuggling up next to your partner in bed…only to remember you live alone.”

It’s even worse if it’s one of your exes.

Issue #2 of Oxymoron: The Loveliest Nightmare delivers another brutal look into the crime of Swanstown. A villain with insane motives, much like the Joker, takes to manipulative methods in order to wreak havoc on the citizens and local government. A scene in this one featuring bystanders in a movie theater gives the familiar sense of “let the people decide” that the boat scene in Nolan’s The Dark Knight had. This scene however has quite different results…

Writers Tyler James and John Lees are playing off some of the current hot topic debates in this issue – as right from the beginning they take on gun control laws. As a means to confront these topics they’ve created the character Krystal Gaines, a journalist who further fleshes out the actions of Oxymoron for the public. One of her lines that expresses how Oxymoron has been committing these acts gives reason to the title (because being named Jumbo Shrimp isn’t as terrifying).

“With every murder, he’s exposed contradictions and double standards.”

The artist on this series is Alex Cormack. This issue he’s given the task of expressing some pretty gruesome panels. The theater scene mentioned above doesn’t pull any punches in the reader’s view of the aftermath. Cormack highlights the police officers on the scene as well as the target of the attack, the Senator, by presenting them as if a spotlight singled them all out. The bystanders are all met with a pale purple color which provides this scene with the somber emotions it represents.

Another interesting scene by Cormack showcases Oxymoron expressing to another of his victims something he has done. As she speaks aloud the words “Boom. Boom. Boom.” the three panels in the background show different explosions happening in locations other than his own. Cormack however lights up the face of Oxymoron as if the explosions are happening right in front of him.

A cross between the mannerisms and actions of the Joker and Red Hood (Jason Todd version), Oxymoron is a “very bad man” as he continues to terrorize the citizens of Swanstown. The lead officer on the case is given a way out, a chance to leave it all behind, but she has something to prove, and a past that needs rectifying. James and Lees deliver a cold-blooded tale with issue #2, and push the doors wide open for more mayhem. Cormack delivers another issue filled to the brim with the gritty details of Oxymoron’s plans as he lights the panels to accentuate the villain’s destruction. All this chaos has to make you wonder though…what’s keeping people in this city? Free Wifi?