Trevor Hogg reviews the debut issue of a series which combines an anime visual sensibility with the comedic mayhem of Back to the Future…
A teenage cop from a high-tech future is sent back in time to 1986 New York City. DaYoung Johansson is investigating the Quintum Mechanics megacorporation for crimes against time. As she pieces together the clues, she discovers the “future” she calls home – an alternate reality version of 2013 – shouldn’t exist at all!
A 15 year old female police officer is in the midst of time travelling to past with the mandate to save the world while a quantum physics machine is being tested. The end result sees the two incidents collide resulting in the futuristic law enforcement officer emerging from the technological wreckage. While the protagonist who goes by the name of DaYoung Johansson faints a flashback occurs where she convinces a superior located in 2013 New York City to allow her to travel to 1986 in order to expose the Quintum Mechanics for using time travel as the means to gain an advantage over the market place.
DaYoung Johansson ends up befriending the young corporate scientists responsible for the Q-machine as the result of the explosion; however, she is not one to forget her other civic responsibilities when it comes to protecting other citizens in the city. While fixing her damaged equipment the teenager gains access to the police radio and flies off to apprehend a suspect hiding in store responsible for shooting an undercover police officer. Needless to say local officers do not know what to make of this rocket girl and before they can react she is rushes in after the armed criminal. Johansson needs some rescuing herself which arrives in the form of a taxi cab containing her new scientific friends.
What is striking at first is the neon retro colour scheme used by Amy Reeder which provides some visual pop to the imagery. The red and blue police lights on the vehicles and futuristic uniform actually seem to glow! The page layouts are inventive in particular the page split showing the similar scene between 1986 and 2013 which serves as an effective time transition. The narration written by Brandon Montclare contains personal insights into the main character and assists in integrating the exposition into the storyline. It is quite obvious that the ‘fish out of water’ premise is going to be played to the hilt which is way it should be as there is a lot of comic and dramatic potential to be explored.
What I am not too sure about the project which found life via Kickstarter is how a 15 year old girl became a police officer in the first place. The law enforcement officers in 1986 seem a little too forthcoming with information to a stranger though people can do unusual things when faced with unexpected situations. Rocket Girl #1 concentrates on setting up the situation so with all of that being taken care of it will be interesting to see how the adventure develops.
Trevor Hogg is a freelance video editor and writer who currently resides in Canada.
