Friday The 13th Vol. 2 [Paperback]

Various (Author, Illustrator)

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: WildStorm (October 28, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401220037
• ISBN-13: 978-1401220037
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 0.4 x 10.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #913,489 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A collection of inspired Friday-tales!, November 5, 2008

By 

Robin Solsjö Höglund (Skellefteå, Sweden) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Friday The 13th Vol. 2 (Paperback)

After reading Book 1, which was a much more traditional Friday the 13th story, this collection comes as a really pleasant surprise. If you're a Friday-conservatist, you might not approve as much of these, but they only give little possible twists, more like "what if"-stories or other perspectives. Most (maybe all in a sense) of the stories are about people somehow relating to Pamela or Jason Voorhees, which is an interesting way to put it.

First is "Pamela's Story", told within the first Friday the 13th and using it directly, where Pamela literally tells us her past life story. Without giving too much away I can say that it keeps the key moments we know, but they are a lot more raunchier and intense. I thought the sexual nature was a little strong in comparison to the first Friday-film, but it's compelling to know more about Pamela and her firstborn son. The artwork is pretty good, even if the characters look a little overly intense at times.

"Abuser And The Abused" is a very short and special story about a disturbed young woman, drawn in a unique sort of "ultra-violent Archie"-kind of style, complete with rasters and muted colors. It's almost like an intense short story from a (female?) student with a passion for horror films, at least that's the vibe I get from it. It's over in a flash, but it really sticks out, even if Jason in that "Archie"-style just doesn't look right at all.

"Bad Land" interconnects two stories at the same location (guess where?), and is impressive because both stories have their seperate conflicts (before or without Jason involved), and it really involves the reader even before it gets to all the blood and guts.

Finally there's "How I Spent My Summer Vacation", told from the perspective of a little boy resembling Jason in both physicality and mentality. Jason slaughters completely mercilessly in this (no barriers, and so rapidly that I didn't pick up on it at first), but the boy becomes trapped between Jason and a police officer on their trails. That sounds like a simple story, but it's a little more complicated (and a lot crazier) than that. There's extreme gore, and the same artist/s that did the entire first book, which again, I'm not extremely fond of, but the environments, the violence/gore and special story makes up for it.

Overall I really liked Friday the 13th: Book 2. There's a diverse collection of stories here, and they relate and connect to the Friday the 13th-universe while keeping the unique qualities of their makers. The artwork is overall well made, usually without looking too wrong but neither jumping out of the page completely. There's also plenty of sex and gore, but it's nice to see that there's more to tell than "kids arrive at Crystal Lake and Jason slaughters them" for the ten thousandth time. I hope Wildstorm continue to make issues and volumes like these in the future.

5.0 out of 5 stars Creative stories revolving around Jason Voorhees, December 11, 2011

By 

Jason Clemons (Minneapolis, MN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Friday The 13th Vol. 2 (Paperback)

I really enjoyed this book, every story was different and interesting. The stories are only a couple issues each so the book keeps you interested.

3.0 out of 5 stars Anthology of Friday the 13th Graphic Novel Short Stories, May 15, 2009

By 

James N Simpson (Gold Coast, QLD Australia) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Friday The 13th Vol. 2 (Paperback)

Unlike with Friday the 13th: Volume 1 with this second volume instead of one author and illustrator telling a story we have four graphic novels (comic books) by different authors and artists. Like any normal novel various anthology the quality does vary as does how true the story/illustrations stay to the original Friday the 13th movie series.

The most controversial amongst F13th fans Friday the 13th Pamela's Tale (which you can buy on it's own too) is a prequel to the original Friday the 13th film along with retelling some of that film's storyline as well. Artistically it is easily the best of the four stories in here, and whose illustrations most resemble the film franchise. Basically this explores Pamela's life as a good house wife back in the 1940s who is treated badly and violently by her husband. Knowing he will not be happy that she is pregnant she listens to a voice in her head (or is it Jason, you decide) telling her the only way to ensure their survival is to kill. Impressed by her hard work at a cafe and wanting to help her with the expenses of her soon to be born son the couple who are opening Camp Crystal Lake offer her employment there. Jason's birth is a painful one and he is of course deformed and special. When Jason tortures and kills a cat the babysitter not liking how he plays, quits. So Pamela has to take him to work. Of course the campers aren't as into looking after the deformed Jason as they should be and after jumping onto the back of a couple having sex he is chased off the end of the jetty. You know what happens next! If you want more alternative Pamela action check out the non graphic novel Friday the 13th: Carnival of Maniacs.

The Abuser and the Abused is the shortest entry in this volume and the one that looks like it has had the least effort put into both the storyline and the illustrations. The artwork resembles the old Donald Duck and other comics of that era with the very basic drawings coloured by dots. It's basically a teenage girl is mistreated by her parents and beaten by her boyfriend so decides to kill them, meets Jason and thinks he'll see that she and him are the same.

Bad Land has a flashback story happening at the same time as a modern story both occuring at Crystal Lake in the winter. A hunting party come across a tee-pee in a storm and tell the squaw who is nursing a baby they'll be staying. The eat her food, rape and kill her then her husband returns. Likewise a trio of teenagers stumble upon Camp Blood and take refuge there where the girl cheats on the guy and is unable to do the act quietly when seeing Jason in the window. Very predictable story from start to finish nothing special and average one step up from Japanamation drawings.

The final story although also predictable How I Spent My Summer Vacation brings the overall quality of the anthology back up. A deformed boy named Davie is sent against his wishes to experience life by his mother to Camp Blood. There he is bullied and tormented by fellow campers, that is until Jason turns up. Jason can't bring himself to kill Davie and with the police in pursuit they flee into the forest where Davie starts to loose his fear and gain a hero worship of Jason. This story jumps around a little bit and with similar drawings for the victims you've sort of got to read back over it when you thought a character was already dead.

Overall Pamela's Tale and How I Spent My Summer Vacation do lift this anthology to a reasonable level but as with the first volume, I wouldn't pay a lot of money for it. Plus the entire four stories take about 20 minutes to read.