Return of the Skyrocket

Its a short one today, kids.  Its Friday, May 4, 2012, its the missus's birthday, and this is The Side.  That's right.  My wife was born on Star Wars Day.  That's how we roll.


Yeah, only had one comic waiting for me this week.  Things are still pretty nuts here, with the return of the mssus being under a week away, and Darren's untimely passing..    Let's get to it.

COMIX!!!

THE SKYROCKET #4 hit the stands a bit unexpectedly.  Was not expecting it, but I'm glad that Mike Federali and Os Petroli got this baby on out.  Samantha Robbins AKA The Skyrocket starts out a new adventure when Agent Evans needs her assistance in a hostage situation involving hi-tech crooks.  Pretty straight forward stuff, but a very pleasant ride.  We get fun villains for Sam to fight.  We also get a bit of a twist at the end.  The writing is good.  Federali shines in the little moments, like the early seen with Sam in her lab.  He does a good job of making Sam likable and engaging without falling into the trap of having a female lead who is just an over-developed bosom in spandex.  Petroli plays off of this and does a great job of making her attractive without resorting to cheap cheesecake shots.  This book continues to improve.  Its paced well.  The art continues to get cleaner.  I do like that we see Evans in the field wearing tactical gear as opposed to his suit.  There are a few things that didn't really work for me, like the Sam/Mari throwdown, but that's mainly me coming from a fight background and I'm too much of a stickler sometimes as far as fight scenes.  These are only small misgivings, and even with them, I'm still really enjoying the comic and am definitely on board waiting for issue #5.

MUSIC!!!

Well, since we're having a Federali love fest today...





That's a wrap for me.  See you guys Sunday with a certain movie review.  May the Fourth be with you.

The Skyrocket Flies High.

The Skyrocket #2 from Paper Tiger Comics hit the stores this week. Mike Federali and Os Petroli continue their tale of a bad girl trying to go good and it just not going easy for her. The gears shift for issue two. While the first issue gave us big monster fighting action, this one keeps the tension up and the property damage fairly low. We pick up right where we left off with our heroine, Sam Robbins at gunpoint from a hooded assassin.

This issue gives us a bit more in terms of characters. Sam continues to be a smart, confident protagonist who despite having a checkered past doesn't seem to be haunted by it. Nice have a character like this who doesn't rank to high on the angst-o-meter with every action performs for atonement. In fact it Seems Sam still has a bit of bad girl in her, but at least now she's using it constructively. We get to see more of Agent Evans, who finally appears as more then just a guy on a video screen. While I had written this guy off as Government Douche in issue one, he turns out to be a pretty likable guy.

For a couple of guys on their maiden voyage into making comics, Federali and Petroli are handling themselves well. The story is straight forward and doesn't lull, keeping our interest. The art continues to be solid and easy to follow. Petroli does have a bit of a disadvantage in that the story in this issue all takes place in one setting and there's not a huge fight scene. He manages to keep the book flowing well, and that's hard to do in a comic when there's not bullets flying or fists swinging every other panel. Although it looks like we'll be getting that in issue #3. Also credit to them for not going full-on gory in certain scenes that could have easily been done a lot more graphically. Petroli makes it clear what happens, but doesn't make us cringe when it does.

Its a solid book and I'm on board for next month when issue 3 hits.

And if you missed issue #1 and need a little catch-up, you can get it here.

The Skyrocket takes off

I got my hands on The Skyrocket #1 last week from Paper Tiger Comics. This is the first book out from PTC and they made a strong start of it. Mike Federali weaves a tale about a bad girl gone good and the book is illustrated by Os Petroli. The book is in the super hero genre but definitely has an indy feel to it. It's black and white and very utilitarian in its visual storytelling. Petroli seems to be finding his way with things, but his work is solid and I'm sure he'll do nothing but improve as he continues. Federali turns in a good story and good dialogue.

The Skyrocket is Samantha Robbins, a science adventure gal who has turned over a new leaf after her father passed away. The book tries not to hit us over the head with exposition, which is hard for a new title. There's plenty of questions that need answered, but the reader isn't hindered by them. We don't need to know how Sam can fly, we just need to know that she can. The character design is refreshing. Sam is an attractive young woman who doesn't flaunt it. She's realistically proportioned. Her costume features neither a battle thong nor a boob hole and is in fact well designed and functional. She's even got a robot companion to talk with, and thank goodness, because Watson the robot is fun and this way the reader is spared massive internal dialogue which is just completely overdone in many titles.

Sam is trying to get back into the good graces of the law but has a pesky criminal record which a certain Agent Evans uses to get Sam to go on a mission for him. We get a few twists and turns, and a fair amount of action. It sets in a few effective plot hooks to get us to want to see issue two sooner than later.

I like this book. I deal a lot with second generation adventurers in my own work so this speaks to me quite a bit. It's got a bit of charm to it. That's going to carry it a ways as Federali and Petroli find their feet with this work. I'll be waiting for issue two to see where this takes me.