In SUICIDE JOCKEYS #2, available from Source Point Press on September 29th, 2021, Denver eats double helpings of humble pie to get the team back together for a longshot plan to bring Naomi home and restore the timeline.
The Details
- Written By: Rylend Grant
- Art By: Davi Leon Dias
- Colors By: Iwan Joko Triyono
- Letters By: HdE
- Cover Art By: Davi Leon Dias (cover A)
- Cover Price: $3.99
- Release Date: September 29th, 2021
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Was It Good?
It’s a significant improvement over the first issue for two reasons. First, it gives you more character moments with each team member so you can get a better idea of the emotional tension directed at Denver, the team leader. Second, this issue handles the political commentary better… a lot better.
To set the expectations, there are no kaiju or explosions or flying robots in this issue. This is purely a character-building comic to get readers familiar with the team members and the emotional baggage they bring with them. I like how Grant and Dias use wordless montages on a single page per team member to show how they met, got to know, and eventually fell out with Denver. It’s a clever way of snapshotting memories in a more engaging way than using long exposition captions or weaving their backstory into clunky dialog. In other words, Grant leaned on Dias to let the art tell its own mini-story within the story, and it’s effective.
Executing on the backstories is one component of this issue. The other is how well the characters come off as unique, interesting individuals that look and sound like real people. Complicated, emotional, real people. You could make the argument that the issue leans a little too close to soap opera territory, but Grant keeps the melodrama in check. You get these characters. You might like some and you might dislike others, but you can pick out each one as a distinct person.
On the politics front, we were pretty down on Grant’s first issue for the anti-Trump histrionics because it completely took you out of the story and dissolved the suspension of disbelief in this fictional world. Here, Grant smartly reels back the politics to keep it believable, particularly in reference to China’s government, while keeping it generic enough to make the comic’s readability evergreen. This second issue is a much better example of integrating politics without making the material feel dated.
Since this is a character-building issue, Dias carries the burden of making the material engaging without the benefit of eye-popping visuals and does so successfully. Every panel shows off a moment of emotional weight and importance through body language and facial expressions. Again, the artistic highlight is the backstory montages, especially through the use of coloring to make the figures stand out against panels filtered through a B&W patina. It’s a smart tactic of making individuals stand out in a crowd and drawing the reader’s eye.
In all, this is an emotionally charged and engaging read.
What’s It About?
[SPOILERS AHEAD – Click here if you just want the score without spoilers]
To find out which timeline we’re talking about, check out our SUICIDE JOCKEYS #1 review.
We begin with Denver in a memory montage briefly recollecting how he met each member of the team, including Naomi. The central theme of the issue is the concept of ‘moments’ and how they shape who we are and what we do. The connective tissue for this collection of moments is Denver’s fruitless attempts to get in touch with Rory, despite being rebuffed by his Producer and Agent.
First, we meet Bujai, the group’s expert mechanic. Denver met Bujai during some sort of prison escape (could be an illegal border crossing). Denver brought him on the team for his expert mechanic skills and helped him to become a US citizen. Denver is also the person responsible for introducing Bujai to his future husband, a person not too fond of Denver.
Next comes Yun, a Chinese national with divided loyalties. She’s brought back on to the team through Suneel’s relationship with President Xi. What complicates matters is Yun’s former romance with Rory. Later, Denver tries to bring Hank back to the team as their expert pilot, but Hank is in no shape for any mission due to a terminal illness. To get Hank’s cooperation, Denver is forced to make a promise that may haunt him later.
We conclude the issue with Rory, as the last holdout, forced to reconcile his own mistakes.
Final Thoughts
SUICIDE JOCKEYS #2 gets the band back together with mountains of emotional moments, character-building, and motivation. The art admirably caries the issue with unique backstory montages that show rather than tell each team member’s life story, and the writing sets the stage for a conflict with more meaningful stakes when every character has something to gain or lose.
Score: 8.5/10
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