Following on the heels of their skull-crushing first volume, James
Maddox and Gavin Smith are back for another story that follows Yan, Red
Death and the ensemble cast of Dead Legends.
After upending the traditions of the Dead Legends organization and
becoming the prime target of the tournament master, Yan's crew of exiled
fighters have fled from one temporary home to the next, each time
narrowly escaping the deadliest of Damon's assassins. Increasing the
seriousness of their situation is Yan's newly born daughter, Yoshi.
Keeping Yoshi safe and happy has become the group's first imperative,
but that goal is tanked as Yan's latest hideout falls to attack and her
friends are either scattered or imprisoned.
This action-packed opening kicks off the second volume of Dead Legends,
and the hits keep compiling from that point forward. Dead Legends 2
takes our characters off the mountainous fighting grounds and into the
monasteries, the cities and the outskirts beyond, expanding the world
and introducing us to a slew of new threats.
While the first volume of Dead Legends focused on a widow out for
revenge, Dead Legends 2 focuses on the cat-and-mouse game played against
Yan by her pursuers, and the revolutionary upheavals that threaten the
leadership of the organization that has infiltrated some of the highest
positions in modern society.
The last time we saw tournament champion Damon, he was a drunken master
in the ring and an aimless leader everywhere else. But now that he is
driven to destroy Yan, Damon has taken a greater interest in his
leadership role. This newfound instinct is an unfortunate development
for Sarah, who had been running Dead Legends from the shadows while
Damon bumbled drunkenly past his responsibilities. Now that Damon is
diverting all of the organization's resources in his crusade to find
Yan, many of Sarah's covert operations are starting to fail, causing
instability to the world at large and testing her patience in the
process.
While Damon is obsessing about Yan, the killers hunting Yan are all
fighting to capture and deliver Yan to their boss. The standout star
among these assassins is an acolyte of the late Blind Tiger called
Tigress. She has been making herself known by hatching schemes that
expose Yan's crew at every turn, and while these successes have been
raising her stock among her colleagues, her direct leader, Skinned
Snake, is becoming worried about losing his rank to her.
As the assassins are closing in on Yan, Jee Sin and Stalk find
themselves captured and locked in a Dead Legends dungeon. And while
their bodies are imprisoned, their rhetoric that recollects the golden
days of the tournament starts to appeal to the guards that watch over
them. Slowly, a disconnect and a longing for better leadership starts to
set in, and a movement of revolution is born.
