Great Pacific Volume 2: Nation Building, by Joe Harris and Martin Morazzo

In Great Pacific Volume 1: Trashed, we met Chas Worthington, son of an oil billionaire, who sets out to establish a new nation on a garbage heap in the Pacific Ocean.  Great Pacific Volume 2: Nation Building, the story picks up months later, with a bustling community of settlers, making a new life and forming a new community in New Texas.  Volume 2 is a worthy continuation of the story, but it loses some of the originality and power of the first volume.

We have this community, with homes and business, but Harris and Morazzo left me with too many questions.  Where did the people come from?  What about the materials, infrastructure, utilities, and civic services?  That all seems to be present, but under what sort of organization?  There must be an active trade with the mainland, but what is that like?  What about transportation to and from?  Some of the answers are hinted at in the story and illustrations, but when your story is all about building a new community, I'd like to have seen more development.

The larger story concerns Chas's quest to build up New Texas and to gain acceptance and recognition as a nation among nations.  He talks of the law of the sea, but doesn't go into much depth exploring that.  He flirts with an alliance with a brutal African regime, risking a loss in status by associating with the hated nation.  He has his own scientists working on a project, apparently attempting to anchor New Texas to the sea floor.  And there's a mysterious Captain Nemo-like villain, who came from who knows where, working to thwart Chas's plans.

This is all part of an ongoing story, and I know Harris and Morazzo will tie up some of these loose ends in future installments, but I was left scratching my head and wondering where this is all going.  Chas seemed to start out in Volume 1 with purpose and direction.  In Volume 2, his purpose and direction were all over the place.  The same could be said of the story.