The Mighty Titan #2
When I was young, my Nana died of breast cancer. This was after my aunt had passed away of the same cause. My friend Jennifer and I laughed off the lump she found on her lymph nodes, chalking up the slight defect in her gorgeous features to too many long nights in the club scene. We weren’t laughing a month later when her test results come back. Now I wonder to myself, who is next? Is cancer just an inevitability or can it be avoided? My plights may seem trivial to many who have had far worse encounters with this horrible disease, yet thanks to Joe Martino and his comic series The Mighty Titan, comic book fans now have a champion, and an outlet, for dealing with this serious threat.
While issue one may have just skimmed the surface of Mark Williams diagnosis, issue two dives right into Mark’s plight. Scared, confused and angry, writer Martino gives the reader an almost voyeuristic view of the toll cancer can take on one’s life. From fighting with his wife to bargaining with the president, Mark is determined to overcome the cancer at all odds. It’s an emotional rollercoaster that very few writers can pull off luckily for us Martino is not like other writers. He has a natural gift for conversation and knows firsthand the emotional weight a seemingly simple conversation in a doctor’s office can carry. One can only imagine the difficulty he had putting the pen to paper for this issue.
I praised Luca Cicchitti’s work last issue and that same praise carries over and then some. From the exciting first page to the somber climax, Cicchitti and his team have raised the stakes and the quality. I can’t wait to see more.
The Mighty Titan #2 is an important book that should not only be in everyone’s homes, but hospitals across the nation. It’s an intimate portrait of pain and disease, disguised as a comic that’s not only a must-read, but a must have.
The Mighty Titan #2
Writer: Joe Martino
Breakdowns: John Orlando
Penciller: Luca Cicchitti w/ Cory Smith
Inker: Jeff Austin
Colours: Keith J. Betancourt
Letterer: Adam O. Pruett
Publisher: Red Anvil Comics
A Look Inside
