They Choose Violence #2 (of 5)

Writers: Sheldon Allen; Artist: Mauricio Campetella (July 2025, AWA)

Synopsis

The controversial revenge thriller continues! Laneka, Deidre and Karen, three HBCU besties turned professional career women, enraged by the systemic injustice plaguing their community, have taken their first steps to even the score – executing White Supremacists who got away with murder in ingenious ways – and now they’re diving into the deep end. As their list of targets expands and their methods become more creative, the vigilante trio soon finds that its actions have an unexpected consequence: A copycat, whose signature is a direct message to them. (via Previews)

First Impressions

I admit, I may have taken issue one of They Choose Violence a little too seriously. In my previous review I suggested that this so-called “revenge fantasy” was in search of a proper genre to call home. I had the impression that underneath the blood and gore was a commentary regarding “the hate that hate produced”.

After reading the very first page of issue 2, however, I have taken this book off the pedestal of high-minded discourse. Not because the author Sheldon Allen isn’t capable. On the contrary, I believe that tempering expectations of this series will help readers engage the story properly.

Set it Off

This chapter immediately switches gears in tone with the introduction of Karen as narrator of the story. Along with her colorful and brash demeanor, the book loses the reflective, somber tone of the first issue and doubles down on the Set it Off vibes eluded to previously – as if the story changed hands from Francesca (Vivica Fox) to Cleo (Queen Latifah).

Furthermore, Allen introduces more addictions, kinks and torture devices that elevates this story to Quentin Tarantino proportions; The type of “medieval shit” Ving Rhames talked about in Pulp Fiction.

Speaking of Pulp Fiction, once I understood that this story was rooted in 70’s blaxploitation era cinema, I was a bit more comfortable with the campy dialogue and vulgarity. I cringed a lot but I was glued to the page in spite of myself.

However, I must say, on behalf of Black intellectuals and scholars across the Black diaspora, associating one of the book’s most heinous murder scenes with the birthday and birth place of one of our most beloved storytellers, Zora Neal Hurston, is a step too far.

On The Grind

I wish AWA and Allen’s creative team leaned harder into the blaxploitation/grindhouse motif from a marketing standpoint. It would have helped readers approach the story for the sake of entertainment rather than intellectual purposes.

Also, as I mentioned before, I still believe Mauricio Campetalla and Danielle Caramnico’s art is capable of serving a story of this caliber better with stronger compositions and deeper contrasts. Although, I give Campetalla extremely high marks for the opening and closing scenes of this book.

Bloody Good Time

Now that any false pretenses of intellectual virtue have been stripped away, They Choose Violence issue 2 makes for a strangely compelling read that demands you meet it on its own terms. For readers who appreciate the audacious and the extreme, this series is carving out its own niche, albeit one paved with blood, guts, and a surprising amount of camp. It ultimately feels less like a deep social commentary and more like a really good B-movie translated to the comic page.

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