Trevor Hogg reviews the second instalment which sees Rocket Girl grounded in the past….
“Bodies in motion tend to stay in motion…” Teen future-cop DaYoung Johansson hits 1980s NYC like a meteor. People can’t get enough of the Rocket Girl: she’s fighting crime, saving citizens, and causing a sensation. But she’s also trying to right a wrong in a mystery so deep it could change the future forever. There’s a lot more going on here than anyone knows about — and it might be more than the 15-year-old super detective can handle.
Given refuge by a pair of female scientists that she sees as the means to getting access to corporation being investigated by her, DaYoung Johansson is complicating the situation by becoming a major news item. The spontaneous and reckless law enforcement officer cannot avoid helping out people in trouble. Labelled Rocket Girl by the media and public masses, the mysterious celebrity is being hunted by the authorities she represents.
A flashback reveals that DaYoung Johansson has an unknown informant which has given her audio access to a meeting at Quintum Mechanics where she learns of the plan to send a time machine back in order to alter the future for benefit of the corporation. Refusing the assistance of a colleague, the teenager is convinced that she is the only person capable of ensuring justice prevails. However, the visitor from the future is not the only conducting an investigation as the local police are trying to piece the story together around the destruction of a high tech machine and the arrival of a high flying good Samaritan.
The bushy hairdos echo 1980s rock bands like Twisted Sister and Triumph while the bright pink of Annie harkens to singer Cindi Lauper. There appears to be a lot of shouting between the characters which at times gives everyone the same wide mouth expression. I do wonder if DaYoung Johansson is going to change her outfit or at least give it a wash. It is still hard to imagine that Johansson would be so open about her reason for travelling to the past especially with those who are connected to her investigation.
Illustrator Amy Reeder is obviously having fun with the page layouts which allow for sweeping action scenes. The multiple hologram panels showing the various newscasts are given a cool full page treatment while moving the story along. The exposition is cleverly handled by having futuristic technology demonstrated at a corporate meeting. Nuances such as zippers being used as earrings are a nice touch. What is really cool are the defused reflections caused by glass in regards to exhaust trails, the neon glow of store signs, and the discolouration of the protagonist resulting from her partially gazing through a sliding glass door.
Trevor Hogg is a freelance video editor and writer who currently resides in Canada.
Originally published November 13, 2013. Updated April 15, 2018.
