The timing of the second issue of Buckaroo Banzai: Hardest of the Hard hurts. Consistency may be the hobgoblins of small minds, to paraphrase Ralph Waldo, but it's most welcome in comic book publishing.

I remember the first issue of Buckaroo Banzai rather well. A crazed scientist in the Buckaroo Banzai universe plies his ware on a homeless streetfighter to turn her into a golden cat person. The strength of characterization and sincerity in the artwork pulled me into the adventure.

This extremely late follow-up just confuses me. The story begins with a rat girl, who isn't named, throwing Reno through a wall. Meanwhile Pecos and Buck search for evidence in the mad scientist's barge headquarters and deal with the chimeras the loon spliced.

It's a serviceable adventure with several good lines and Buck behaving like Buck. You can often hear Peter Weller speaking, and Buck more often than not looks like his cinematic interpreter.

The trouble is I don't remember how we arrived at this point, and Lady G doesn't appear in the book until the end. It would have been better had she been in on the action because the addition would have forged a stronger connection with the previous issue and maybe alleviate the feelings of bewilderment.

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