Rating: 3.5/5 – Strong art and new character make up for weaker story.
Dayoung Johansson is a teenage cop from the future who is sent back in time to 1986. She’s investigating Quintum Mechanics for altering time and “cooking the history books” to change the past in order to benefit their future. Essentially Rocket Girl number one is a time travel story, but what makes it a bit more special is the heroine of the book and Amy Reeder’s art, both which stand out from the weaker story.
As mentioned above, Dayoung is investigating Quintum Mechanics and the story opens strong. We’re given the reason she’s after them, we see her go back in time, and we’re introduced to numerous characters who present the world to us. As soon as she gets to the past, that’s where the story starts to fall apart. Instead of going after Quintum Mechanics, she instead goes after random crimes in Times Square and really doesn’t mention her main mission again. It felt random and scattered which made me lose interest about half way through the book. Hopefully writer Brandon Montclare can get the story back on track with the next issue. He’s created a like-able and fun character in Dayoung, but her changing motivations doesn’t help in introducing this new character.
The highlight of the book was Amy Reeder’s art. She has a fun and expressive style and she’s able to give all the different characters a unique look, starting with Rocket Girl herself. The design of Rocket Girl is top notch. It’s a simple and sleek costume, and that’s what makes it stand out so much. Combine that with the jetpack and flashing lights and it’s one of the best costumes introduced in the past few years. The only criticism I have of the art is at times the color choices seem off. In a scene where she’s fighting a couple cops in Times Square, the backgrounds are solid primary colors that gave the art a cheap feel. For the most part the colors work, but in these few instances the lack of “natural” colors gave it a less cohesive feel.
I’ll be back for issue two, but I hope they get back to the main storyline and Rocket Girl’s true motivations. This could be a great book, but for that to happen the story has a way to go to match the art.
Reviewed by: Shawn Hoklas – shawn@comicspectrum.com
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