Writer: Brandon Montclare
Art: Amy Reeder
Image $3.50
Stewart R: I went to New York with a copy of Rocket Girl #1 in my bag. I had it with me on the 7 hour flight and I failed to read it. I saw Montclare and Reeder on several occasions signing copies at their table at NYCC and remember thinking to myself "I should read that tonight so I can maybe speak to them about it tomorrow", but failed to find the time and so failed to speak to them about it. I could have actually gone up and bought a copy from them, read it there and then and then spoken to them about it, but only thought of that in hindsight. I even had it in my bag for the entirety of the 7 hour flight back to the UK too. Failed to read it then. It was in a rather large pile of comics I started digging through a week after getting home and remember picking it up and stupidly thinking to myself "I really do like the look of this, but I’m not in the right frame of mind for it right this minute". Fail!
And so - with potentially a little too much honesty for you all good readers - it came to one of those quick dash, pop-to-the-convenience-and-grab-reading-material-ANY-reading-material moments about a week ago (I’m sure at least 75% of you are nodding in familiar acknowledgement of such a situation) when I finally managed to read Rocket Girl #1 and it was a damn fine debut I really must say. The fantastic news this week is that I wasted no time at all in diving into the second chapter - reading it from the comfort of a comfortable desk chair with no porcelain in sight - and it thankfully, yet not unexpectedly, carries on at the high standard set last month.

She’s brilliantly depicted, via his plucky dialogue and Reeder’s sublime artwork, as a young woman with a supreme sense of capability and confidence which is made all the more charming because she’s stranded in a time she doesn’t fully understand and, arguably, is nowhere near ready for her. Reeder’s expression work is applause-worthy, shifting Dayoung through calm concentration to arm-flapping exasperation, yet to this point never giving us the impression that she’s in a situation that she can’t handle. On the larger scale the brief glimpses of superheroics are imaginatively handled each and every time with a truly noteworthy double-page spread the standout moment. The visual style employed by Reeder is tremendously rich and vibrant throughout and, as you would expect from a book entitled Rocket Girl, the action sequences thrust along with a great sense of kineticism; the variety of panel layout and camera viewpoint really making you believe that this teenage cop has the skillset and tech to disarm a dangerous situation in the very blink of an eye.

Rocket Girl has an incredibly relatable and likeable lead, a complimentary supporting cast, an intriguing plot containing mystery and potential by the bucketload, as well as one heck of an eye-catching aesthetic to it. It’s sucked me in and made me a dedicated reader already after only two chapters. And you know what, it's just plain fun too! Image really do seem to have a habit of finding books that grab me and suck me right in to them on a regular basis these days... 9/10
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