By Arpad Okay. Our Week In Review sums up our weekly comic book coverage while taking time for a new review or two before it’s all over. Did we miss your favorite books this week? Well. This is where you need to be.
Motor Crush #2
Image Comics/$3.99
Written by Brenden Fletcher, Cameron Stewart, and Babs Tarr.
Artwork by Cameron Stewart and Babs Tarr.
Color and Production by Heather Danforth.
Letters by Aditya Bidikar.
AOK: Motor Crush is a story about speed and the static image. The speed of a street chase maximized by a plethora of impossible angles. In front of the tire. Over the thumb throttle cam. Zoom out from kissably close to the whole stretch of highway. Then it snaps back in time to catch a controlled slide in a single panel. To spark the imagination, an instant has to imply a world of chaos. Motor Crush bears this burden like it’s nothing. Every snapshot is a perfect moment of frozen overdrive.
Its character building is just as craftily executed as its action. Getting to know Domino Swift and her family is a real pleasure. Domino falls on her past to try to escape the perils of the present, which provides her a more realized world. The complexity of her addiction (to the illegal drug Crush) pits Domino’s physical health against her mental well being, and that nuance is evolving into a real gem of a subplot. She (and everyone else in the circuit) is caught between the world of celebrity and the reality of the Nova Honda streets. Pristine on the surface, but on the inside? Skating the edge of a bottomless pit.
The grey area authenticity isn’t reserved for Domino. The sidekicks, gearheads, and gangsters of Motor Crush all refuse to be anything less than complete. Even the book’s setting flavors the story, bolstered by the book’s fourth-wall-breaking, impeccably designed captions. It all comes together flashy and fluid, recalling Yoshinori Kanada’s work on stories about empowered women, the proto-Ghibli era. The gorgeous candy colors and textured process feel like a glowing update to the watercolor tones of risograph printing. Super kawaii, sassy and strong, furious, brassy and brave. Motor Crush is a ride not to be missed.
8 out of 10
From earlier this week —
REQUIRED READING: DeConnick’s translation of ‘Barbarella’ imbues the ’60s sexpot with context
BOOKS FOR BABES: ‘The Only Child’ an enriching experience, ‘Lumberjanes’ remains fun as heck
The Root of Evil — CASUAL WEDNESDAYS WITH DOOMROCKET
Great Caesar’s Ghost, Superman looks like Superman again
Exclusive Preview: Arthur has just about had it with pushy secret cabals in ‘Aquaman’ #15
Preview: ‘Darth Maul’ is gonna rage (and he’ll probably do a sweet back flip too)
What books did YOU read this week? We want to know! Tell us about those feelings of yours in the comments section below.
