Creative Staff:
Story: Collin Kelly, Jackson Lanzing
Art: Brian Ching
Colors: Kelly Fitzpatrick
Letterer: Wes Abbott
What They Say:
When young Kara Gordon rushes headlong into the Freescape, she’s stunned to find Gotham City Garage—where new friends might become family, if she lives long enough.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The opening installment of Gotham City Garage definitely got my attention in a big way and left me wanting more, which with several issues out as I came into this late means I get to work through a bunch of it. Kelly and Lanzing gave me an interesting world that had me wanting to know more from the start and it didn’t hurt that we got some really great and distinctive artwork from Brian Ching that continues here, with such wonderful angles and powerful stances that I could pore over the book for hours panel by panel. And with the way Fitzpatrick colors it, especially since of those backgrounds with bold colors, it just pops in such a fantastic way that I was pretty much grinning throughout this issue in soaking up all the goodness.
Kara’s ending up on the outside after being listed as malfunctioning because of her free will and the warning by her father has her facing off against the half-dozen gardeners out there. What helps is that she gets a save from Harley and her group on their motorcycles as they see someone like this as a potential ally worth checking out. The book makes for a fun introduction for each of them and their style and it’s done both through narration and dialogue as well as the action on the page. Kara keeps involved in it all as well which is good to see because she’s not just letting herself be saved here. The big thing for her is the realization that these people are like those she’s imagined for so long out of the comic books she’s hunted up and imagined and she can easily see them as being instrumental not just in her own survival but in fighting back against what Governor Lex has done to the world.
The expansion of this world comes very smoothly with this issue as she’s brought back to the garage, which is run by a very tough as hell Natasha Steel that’s got plenty of tales from the past and the charisma to sell it to the gang that resides there. They’re looking at a larger fight coming up themselves and she’s wary of Kara because of who she is but there are basic rules in play that gives Kara a little time to figure things out. The garage is well presented with the kind of quasi-western saloon vibe and the types that are there mingling with the main characters. Giving Barda a little time with Kara is interesting enough and showing how she’s connecting slowly with that group provides for a lot of potential. Doing this while showing Kara’s father in Jim Gordon being taken before Batman and facing the results of what he’s done with the man that is judge, jury, and executioner works well. There are basic nods of more things going on here with what Gordon has done that you can see being a focal point as it goes on but getting to see how this Batman operates is just thrilling, especially with Ching’s artwork and how Fitzpatrick colors it all.
In Summary:
Gotham City Garage has a solid second installment as we get the necessary expansion that’s more about showing than digging into the details of it all as expected. Kelly and Lanzing keep things moving well but with a good amount of dialogue and exposition so it feels like we get some meat and potatoes with it rather than just splashy scenes without any meaning. I’m genuinely excited to see where this goes as a standalone series reshaping characters and exploring new ideas without having to deal with events is right up my alley and the team here is doing great work from top to bottom. I love Ching’s style with how he presents just about everything here and I want oh so much more of it while at the same time excited to see how the upcoming artists will build upon what he started here and bring their own style to it.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: August 30th, 2017
MSRP: $0.99
