Comic Book Review: Rocket Girl Vol:01 written by Brandon Montclare, art by Amy Reeder
In 1986, Quintum Mechanics developed the Q-Engine, which allowed time travel. By 2013, they have become the most powerful corporation on Earth, owning New York City outright. But Detective Dayoung Johansson of the New York Teen Police Department has an informant inside the QM board of directors. There’s something rotten going on, and she’ll need to travel back in time to arrest the criminals responsible.
Her high-tech armor and jet pack will help out there, but in 1986, who’s going to respect the police authority of a fifteen-year-old?
This 2016 young adult comic book series portrays the rather silly premise with a straight face. Commissioner Gomez looks even younger than Johansson, despite his attempt at a mustache and cigar habit, while another officer is about to retire at age twenty. Back in 1986, most of the police presence is two incompetents who Johansson keeps running into.
Johansson gets distracted by fighting any crime she comes across (she’s a bit of a cowboy cop) while Quintim Mechanics pursues its mysterious agenda. It appears the informer deliberately leaked the information to lure Detective Johansson to the past–but why?
Allied with Johansson early on is underappreciated Gen X physicist Annie, who is largely responsible for the parts of the Q-Engine that actually work. Annie’s boss, Professor Sharma, may be a touch sexist but it’s hard to tell given he’s a pompous credit-hogger in general.
The art is nice, and the story is exciting, but the characters feel stock, and Johansson in particular comes off less as an actual teenager and more a cowboy cop whose body looks like a teenager and thus causes credibility problems.
There’s a few loose ends at the end of the volume, enough to justify a sequel if the creators feel like it. (A time paradox may need unraveling, among other things.)
Recommended primarily to young fans of supercops.
