In this review of Neighborhood Watch #2, Val and Bianca try to figure out just what their surprisingly-mutual friend was all about.
Neighborhood Watch #2
Writer: Sarah Gailey
Art and Main Cover: Haining
Variant Covers: Annie Wu, Haining
Page Count: 32 pages
Release Date: 5/20/2026
This review contains spoilers
As Bianca and Val move Jill/Cassie to Open Arms, they discuss how it is each of them knows her. Upon confirming that she is, indeed, the woman they both know, they decide they need to get to the bottom of what happened to her and why.
At the infirmary, Yves confirms that it’s a gunshot and that they need to keep it from getting infected. They, meanwhile, agree that no cops should be involved. And after staying by Jill’s side the whole night, Bianca heads home with the intention of investigating Jill’s house while her husband is out.
She finds a file involving Open Arms and a hidden safe, but before she can dig too much, Erik comes home early.
Val’s talking to Aurora about her mom’s disappearance, avoiding telling her that she and Bianca found her shot, as Bianca chats with Erik and claims she’s there for the Neighborhood Watch notes.
In Val and Aurora’s talk, it’s revealed that Cassie/Jill hadn’t felt safe around her husband, bringing her to Open Arms. Erik, on his end of things, says his wife had been acting weird the last time he saw her.
But two big things are revealed near the end: 1) Cassie was planning to live that side of her life full time, and 2) Open Arms (and Val) may not be all that they seem…
For Neighborhood Watch #2, we came in for more answers about Jill/Cassie. And some of those answers definitely came up: her unhappiness with Erik, the plan to live at Open Arms full time…
But then we have that file about Open Arms that raises SO many more questions. One of those: Who is Val really? Her mugshot’s shown in that file, right there with a map of the collective with a few choice locations marked. If they’re a peaceful community, then why the weapons cache? And there are tabs in that folder marked for stuff like human trafficking.
I doubt it’s a miscellaneous folder that happens to be marked for Open Arms, so what in the hell are they generally up to? Is some connection to that why Val has a mugshot in the first place? And was it something Erik was investigating, himself?
Erik comes across as a bit suspicious. Maybe so suspicious that it couldn’t be him that shot his wife? It’s hard to tell for sure, at this point, but I wouldn’t be too shocked. Jill had taken on that second life as Cassie to get away from him, and Aurora had run away from home to escape him, as well. Even if he’s not an attempted murderer, that’s enough of a red flag to get someone to take notice.
Did he know of her plan to permanently become a resident of Open Arms?
There’s a moment in Neighborhood Watch #2 that shows that Bianca’s husband had been killed at some point. Wondering if that’s another mystery that will be explored and how it would tie into the one of who shot Jill. It doesn’t feel like something that’d just be dropped into the story without becoming somehow important later down the line, so I’m certainly invested.
The blue versus orange gutters and rigid versus rounded corners return here, and I’m glad to see it consistently in this series. But we’re also seeing how flashbacks are handled: no gutters, a more faded look to the inks and colors to set them apart from everything else. Seriously, I love how it’s all kept distinctive while still all clearly being part of the same story.
Final Thoughts
Neighborhood Watch #2 gives us a few answers, while raising a few more intriguing questions that leave the reader wanting more.
