By: Brian Montclare (story), Amy Reeder (art)
The Story: So these two kids walk into a bar…
The Review: Here’s the thing about rockets: they’re great for a thrill ride, but they don’t really let you take in your surroundings. Appropriately enough, that’s been the core strength and weakness of Rocket Girl. Dayoung’s high-speed, chaotic adventures have been almost overwhelmingly fun, like taking one Six Flags coaster after another for five hours straight. At some point, though, you need at least short break to catch your breath for the next ride.
You don’t need much of one—you don’t go to Six Flags to sit on your hams, conversing quietly—and this issue gives us just enough calm in the scene where Gomez and LeShawn assess the situation in a bar. It’s here that, maybe for the first time in the series, you get a more nuanced idea of who these characters really are and what they stand for, which often happens when you separate the supporting players from the star.
For example, Gomez, whom I’d pegged for a possible traitor among the Teen Police, reveals a self-righteous streak that’s possibly the match of Dayoung’s, declaring, “Quintum Mechanics doesn’t get to tell people how to live…and I don’t care WHO hears me say that!” Even more startling, it’s the usually centered, supportive LeShawn who expresses some heated doubt as to their defiance of Quintum and potentially “erase everything this city is built on!” It’s a great shift that remains true to their personalities, but keeps their dynamic from stagnating.
Call me stubborn, but I still think a betrayal from one of them is possible. One of the most important pieces of information revealed in LeShawn’s rant is that nearly all Teen Police sign up with Quintum Security once they come of age (in this case, immediately after they’ve passed their teen years, at age 20). This reveals an even deeper connection between the two institutions that makes you wonder if the Teen Police’s commissioner, even one barely into his adolescence, can be completely ignorant of Quintum’s true nature. Dayoung also reveals that the Teen Police are really no match for Quintum’s security forces; surely Gomez can’t be ignorant of that, either. So is his full-on NYTPD assault against Quintum truly an open rebellion, or is it leading lambs to the slaughter?
To me, those are the more intriguing questions, whose answers may actually blow the plot wide open. Dayoung is unlikely to uncover too many answers and secrets herself, being trapped in “The Present” when almost all the masterminding is coming from Quintum in “The Past.” Indeed, you might think Montclare sent the two Quintum Special Security men to 1986 with Dayoung for the very purpose of giving her something concrete to investigate. It works; even as she flees and wrestles them in the tunnels of the NY subway system, she begins asking all the right, obvious questions: “How did they know about my mission? And why did they risk an all-out attack on 1986? Who ordered it? …Who…and when?”
At times like this, Reeder’s fluid art is the only one you can depend on to convey both the unpredictability and grace of Dayoung’s flights. There’s a panel where Dayoung narrowly avoids crashing into a brick wall, and you see her spread-eagled, limbs taut but free, the plumes of her rocket-pack curving sharply from a direct collision course with the wall. Somehow Reeder accurately captures a deliberate slowdown in the action without losing any of the momentum Dayoung has built to that point, at the same time revealing our heroine’s daring and skill. It’s a great action moment that can actually be called beautiful, made all the more so by the flaming colors Reeder fills the scene with.
Conclusion: Montclare smartly slows things down just enough for you to appreciate where you’re at before continuing the wild trip, and Reeder’s art has never looked so fearlessly lovely.
Grade: A-
-Minhquan Nguyen
Some Musings: – I’m not surprised it took two months for this issue to come out after the last one. How long do you expect Reeder took to draw in every single bit of graffiti here?
– Gomez’s adult vices will never not be funny. The kid drinks bourbon, for crying out loud.
Grade
Conclusion