Lost Fantasy #2 Review

 

Writers: Curt Pires & Rockwell White

Artists: Luca Casalanguida & Alex Diotto

Colorists: Mark Dale & Dee Cunniffe

Letterer: Micah Myers

Logo & Cover Design: Fernando Rosales

Additional Design: Wesley Griffith

Cover Artists: Luca Casalanguida, Alex Diotto & Tyler Boss

Publisher: Image Comics

Price: $4.99

Release Date: June 11, 2025

 

Henry Blackheart is an FBI Special Consultant. He hails from House Blackheart, an institution that trains gifted people to preserve the balance between our world and Terra. Despite the efforts of all five houses, creatures escape the world below and wreak havoc on the surface. What will Henry Blackheart uncover when he investigates a mass murder in Montana? And whatever happened to the Indigo Children? Let’s cast our runes, select a magical weapon, leap into Lost Fantasy #2, and find out!

 

A World Beneath: Story

The Sheriff dislikes outsiders interfering with his investigations. But after Henry glimpses the killing in a comatose witness’ mind, the Sheriff assigns his deputy to babysitting duties. Henry follows a trail of blood into the woods near the slaying. But as he studies a shred of fur, monsters attack.

 

In Lost Fantasy #2, Henry awakens in the hospital wing of the Black Pillar. He remembers slaying monsters before getting shot. Cyrus Blackheart tells him the shooter used an enchanted bullet. His adoptive father urges Henry to rest and let another agent continue the investigation. But a secret stands between the two men. As it eats away at Henry, he finds consolation in alcohol and drugs. Cyrus may have already sent another agent to Montana. Still, Henry refuses to sit on the sidelines until he discovers what his father hides.

 

A World Beneath, the first story in Lost Fantasy #2, is also the name of the organization that protects our world. Like Men In Black, Cyrus’ organization protects our world from creatures often relegated to myth and legend. Curt Pires’ urban fantasy follows Agent Nihlas’ investigation of the murder site. While the deputy attributes scratches in the blood-splattered wall to a bear, Nihlas suspects another type of creature made them.

 

A World Beneath: Art

As a cloaked woman visits a club filled with Humans and horned drinkers, she remembers slaying a tall, spiky monster. Luca Casalanguida paints her tiny silhouette in the forest as Henry confronts a golem with glowing eyes. While evoking the monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey, the Black Pillar resembles the head of Discovery One. Like a miniature Death Star, the globe towers above pedestrians. It absorbs the surrounding light while filling the city with an eerie glow.

 

The gray and blue hospital wing reflects Henry’s white hair and black and gray attire. Nihlas’ orange shirt helps him stand out among the muted colors of the Sheriff’s and Deputy’s world. Mark Dale fills the green forest with red light, reminding us of the slain teens, Henry’s injury, and the dangers facing Nihlas. At least Nihlas has brought a friend along in Lost Fantasy #2. Like the runes Henry and Nihlas cast in the air, Ursa radiates colored light as he watches TV in a cheap motel and yearns for pay-per-view.

 

Indigo Children: Exodus Part 2: Story

While Rand interrogates Alexei as a child, Curt Pires and Rockwell White transport us to Mars. Indigo Prime and his friends foresee the end of their world. Indigo Five disagrees. The World Council also believes that Indigo Prime's predictions are farfetched. When eruptions rock their world, Indigo Prime hopes their memories, values, and spirits can live on.

 

Curt Pires and Rockwell White’s Kryptonian Dilemma is a sociological science fiction story. As occurs during crises on Earth, finger-pointing and backstabbing ensue on Mars. A touch of humor leavens this high-stakes, fast-paced, seven-page heist story in Lost Fantasy #2, leaving readers wanting more.

 

Indigo Children: Exodus Part 2: Art

Yellow and orange fires erupt from the rounded blue buildings and domes. The Indigo Children's scarlet robes contrast with the blue officials and guards. As people scramble for their flying vehicles, Dee Cunniffe casts robots carrying containers through a warehouse in blue. Alex Diotto shows the tiny red-robed figures confronting the blue vessel that could preserve the seeds of their civilization. Their features remind us that, despite superficial similarities, Alexei and the other Indigo Children on Earth are not these people. Yet some portion of them lingers in their human hosts.

 

Lettering

Micah Myers fills white dialogue balloons with black uppercase letters that convey the tangled emotions surrounding Henry. Yellow stars contain radio transmissions and remind us of the conspiracy surrounding the slayings. Sound effects amplify a fight to the death as Nihlas confronts another opponent with glowing eyes. Three-dimensional sound effects accompany chaos on Mars. The Indigos speak their dire words in white balloons and share their desperate thoughts in colored narrative boxes. Thanks to Image Comics for providing a review copy.

 

Final Thoughts

Robert E Howard saw civilization as artificial and barbarism as the natural state of Humanity. In A World Beneath and Indigo Children: Exodus, Curt Pires and Rockwell White study the threats facing two worlds. These stories in Lost Fantasy #2 remind us that our differences can keep us at each other's throats. Or they can prompt us to extraordinary measures to fight for the people, values, and ideas we cherish.

 

Rating 9.7/10

 

For more covers see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.