Sometimes you gotta take down a burger boy.
Creative Staff:
Story: Dave Dwonch, Brockton McKinney
Art: Magenta King
Colors: Arnaldo Robles
Letterer: Dave Dwonch
What They Say:
Sex, Drugs, and Giant Monsters!
Witness the decade’s most hysterically colossal throwdown as Jenny and Dana battle against the Jagokai death cult–and a psychically animated burger mascot! Meanwhile, Director Santo’s ominous plans begin to come to evil fruition, and thanks to Jenny’s father’s journal, Mega Commander Zero’s origin continues to be revealed. Plus, the first appearance of a character that will shake the very foundation of Jenny’s life!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Dave Dwonch and Brockton McKinney delivered well with the previous four-issue series back in the summer of 2021 and the start of this new series has moved us along well while also giving us some solid backstory. And the property really did need it in order to understand how the world came to this place. As I’ve said previously, the book is a crazy mix of western comics and Japanese manga with a flair of European style mixed in that definitely worked well both in the story and visual design. Magenta King and their artwork continue to be one of the best parts of the series and that definitely plays to the mix of styles in a good way with a lot of detail and some solid flow to the panels and layouts.
With this installment, the backstory side is handled well as we see how Tatsuo woke up after two weeks of being unconscious from the event. The docs knew something was different with him and he was befriended by Fujimoto, who helped him back to recovery in general with no pressure. When the two are able to get out of the hospital for a bit, they end up going drinking and an orchestrated bar brawl is put into motion which triggers Tatsuo for the first time to change into the strange being that he can now. It’s fascinating to see that this is how they decided to trigger a response from him, and in such a public place, leading to a potentially dangerous situation even as controlled as it was. With it being understood from the perspective of Fujimoto’s diaries that Jenny and Dana are reading, well, that certainly colors it to some degree as one can imagine Tatsuo has some real thoughts on the event and more.
In the present, Jenny’s making her play to deal with things by working to get Fujimoto released into her custody, which is an amusing role reversal. But before that, she has to do some of the hard work which is dealing with the death cult that appeared the last time around and how they’re controlling the burger mascot. Jenny’s amusing in all of this as she’s cocky with it by not realizing destroying the head of the mascot doesn’t actually stop it since it’s controlled elsewhere. It’s a solid bit of action that unfolds in the kind of weird comical blend tone that I like about the series and we get to see Dana helping out as well. Of course, some of what we learn along the way afterward is setting up for what’s to come with some bonding for some and discovery of betrayal and treachery afoot by others. It’s moving things to a really interesting space.
In Summary:
Jenny Zero continues to be one weird little book and I really like it. It’s not the height of creativity or storytelling, but it has carved out this space for itself that you don’t see often and it does it well. The backstory material here is admittedly more interesting to more than what’s going on in the present because I wanted to see how all of this came about and getting more is a plus. The present-day stuff is definitely fun, especially the fight, but also seeing how Fujimoto is handling things works well for me too. It’s a really solidly done book whose audience is likely pretty strongly into it.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 15+
Released By: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: June 8th, 2022
MSRP: $3.99
