I was somewhat fortunate in that I joined War Heroes only a month ago. Therefore, all the delays didn’t really affect me. However, I can imagine how tortured I’d have been to have to keep waiting for a continuation of one of the best new series of the year, a fun and intriguing mix of Ex Machina and Ultimates. Well, issue #2 is here at last, and it does a fine job of answering lingering questions. Oh, and it also makes the book about 100x cooler, if that sort of thing interests you.

The last issue dropped a bombshell on the readers: in order to get more cannon fodder in the enlistment offices, the U.S. Army offered superpowers to all who signed up. We met Jay, one of the most decorated soldiers serving and a poster boy for the super-soldier campaign, as well as his little brother Calvin. Calvin seemed to want to be just like big brother, but some hidden meetings with friends revealed there was a darker plot afoot. Issue #2 deals entirely with Calvin, his friends, and a few of the minor characters introduced in the first issue as they head into boot camp to get their first dose of super pills. What ensues is a mix of hilarity and killer action.

Army engineers have apparently been busy little beavers, because they’ve come up with a myriad of abilities, only a few of which we get to see right now. There’s pyrokinesis, ice, technopathy (a nod to Ex Machina, perhaps?), flight, strength, invisibility, speed, and much, much more.  As the rookies progress they combine pills for even more effects.

The drill instructors are sure to raise a laugh. Sergeant Shirley screams and mocks his way through the group of flabby nerds, balding middle-aged divorcés, and even the physically disabled- all looking to go from a life of either being weak or unable to do much into superheroes. He brings back all those wonderful memories of R. Lee Ermey’s defining portrayal of Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket, all piss and vinegar and hilarious in all his insensitive douchebaggery. To really let the trainees learn how to fight, Shirley defers to his second-in-command, Staff-Sergeant Brick Shit-House, which, and I may be mistaken, is almost certainly not his given name. There is one moment of sparring between the him and the grunts that will have you aching with laughter.

There isn’t a whole lot of story in this issue, since it’s mainly about the raucous awesomeness that is the boot camp but Millar keeps our little schemers going. It all culminates in a dramatic reveal of their plans at the end that, in retrospect, I should have seen coming. Nevertheless, it’s genius, and if the first issue made me hungry for more, this has made me absolutely crazy. I can only hope the delays are behind us and we only have to wait a month to see where this slab of genius is headed.