ROCKETMAN & ROCKETGIRL (ONE-SHOT), from Dynamite Comics on March 29th, 2023, regales readers with high-flying adventure when the rocketing duo stops a bank heist that turns them from crimefighters into criminals.
The Details
- Written by: Jacob Edgar
- Art by: Jordi Perez
- Colors by: Ellie Wright
- Letters by: Jeff Eckleberry
- Cover art by: Leirix Li
- Comic Rating: Teen+
- Cover price: $4.99
- Release date: March 29, 2023
Is It Good?
Excelsior, True Believers! Dynamite’s done it again with another roaring adventure ripped straight from the Golden Age of Comics in ROCKETMAN & ROCKETGIRL (ONE-SHOT). Yessir, yessir. When we persistently talk about comic publishers taking advantage of the gap in the market for simple, wholesome, superhero stories, this issue is exactly the kind of comic that has the potential to fill that gap.
Jacob Edgar’s story is a blast (no pun intended). Set during the height of World War II, Cal & Doris Martin, the titular duo known as Rocketman & Rocketgirl, are framed for a crime they didn’t commit, so it’s up to the tech-enhanced crimefighters to evade the authorities and clear their name while uncovering the true culprit.
Everything about this comic screams Golden Age serial adventure. Edgar’s plot is a plausible crime with a superhero twist, the pacing is rocket-fast (ahem) without feeling rushed, the snappy dialog feels authentic for the time period, and the conspirators make sense for the nature of the crime, the setting, and the period. If you like classic serial adventures in the spirit of The Rocketeer, this one-shot is right up your alley.
The minor down point lies in the art, but not in the way you might think.
Jordi Perez’s art style has an old-school aesthetic that matches the location and period perfectly, but there are one or two panels where the characters change or transition too quickly to make sense. For example, there’s a car chase that ends on a bridge. In one panel, Cal is in civilian clothes, but in the next, he’s in his Rocketman costume. It doesn’t read as an art mistake but as a necessary jump cut to accommodate page space. In other words, the minor down point is a collection of too-hard art transitions because this issue needed to be longer. (Note to Dynamite: Make more of these, please.)
Keep scrolling for a closer look at the covers, or Click Here to jump right to the story description with some spoilers.
What’s It About?
[SPOILERS AHEAD – Click here if you just want the score without spoilers]
We begin with a bank robbery getaway in progress. In this case, the getaway vehicle is a high-powered helicopter. Just when the crooks begin to celebrate, a rocket-fueled blur whizzes by the copter. Rocketman & Rocketgirl arrive to end the criminal festivities.
Weeks later, Cal & Doris Martin, aka Rocketman & Rocketgirl, arrive home to find their apartment in the midst of a ransacking by the FBI. The agents inform Cal & Doris that they know about their secret identities, and the bank robbers they captured weeks ago have confirmed one million dollars of the stolen money is missing.
We conclude the issue with interrogations, investigations, car chases, and double-crosses.
Keep scrolling for a closer look at preview images of the internal pages, or Click Here to jump right to the score.
Final Thoughts
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ROCKETMAN & ROCKETGIRL (ONE-SHOT) is everything you could hope for in a Golden Age story homaging the best serial adventures of the early 20th century. The art style, dialog, and overall aesthetic are phenomenal, and the adventure gives new readers a perfect jumping-on point for more.
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